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A STUDY  OF  DANTE 


BY 

SUSAN  E.  BLOW 


WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION  BY 


WILLIAM  T.  HARRIS,  LL.D. 


NEW  YORK  & LONDON 
G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 
Jnicktrboflut  Jpress 
1886 


COPYRIGHT  BY 

SUSAN  E.  BLOW 

1886 


Press  of 

G.  P.  Putnam’s  Sons 


1886 


1 


f 


/ 

) / 


• 4 


1 

CONTENTS. 

A 

PAGE 

i 

f 

Introduction 

iii 

S 

^4 

Inferno  . . 

I 

PURGATORIO 

• 32 

Paradiso 

. 66 

966 1 50 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  great  world-poets,  of  whom  it  is  usual  to 
reckon  four — including  Homer,  Shakespeare,  and 
Goethe,  besides  Dante, — hold  their  supreme  place 
in  popular  estimation  as  much  on  account  of  the 
themes  they  have  treated  as  on  account  of  the  per- 
fection of  poetic  form  which  belongs  to  their  great 
works.  They  have  one  and  all  distinguished  their 
literary  work  from  that  of  other  poets  by  the  pro- 
found insight  with  which  they  have  treated  the  prob- 
lem of  life  in  its  varied  aspects.  Their  poems  may 
be  called  ethical  poems  on  account  of  the  manner  in 
which  they  have  shown  the  reaction  of  the  social 
whole  against  the  attacks  of  Titanic  individuals.  * 
One  may  write  poetry  for  poets,’'  as  it  is  called — 
such  poetry  as  has  attained  to  the  great  vision  of  the 
correspondence  of  nature  to  the  soul  of  Man, — with- 
out having  attained  the  ethical  insight.  The  ethical  in- 
sight sees  the  substantiality  of  institutions — family, 
state,  church, — and  does  not  often  come  to  the  poet 
until  he  has  reached  the  middle  of  his  life’s  journey. 
But  the  poetry  for  poets  and  poetical  natures  is  true 
poetry  on  account  of  the  vision  alluded  to — that  of 

iii 


IV 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE. 


insight  into  the  correspondences  which  furnish  us 
with  new  expressions  for  ideas  and  moods  of  the 
soul.  It  takes  rank,  however,  far  below  the  poetry 
of  a world-poet,  for  the  reason  that  the  latter  has 
used  his  vehicles  of  expression  to  reveal  to  all  in- 
dividual men  their  substantial  manhood  as  embodied 
in  the  institutions  of  civilization. 

Dante’s  place  is  that  of  the  earliest  literary  voice 
of  Christian  civilization,  coming  two  millenniums  af- 
ter Homer  had  sung  the  first  aspirations  of  European 
individuality,  then  newly  broken  off  from  the  Asi- 
atic stem.  With  individuality  had  bloomed  Greek 
art,  republican  states,  the  scientific  spirit,  and  finally 
it  had  found  the  substantial  forms  of  the  will  in  Ro- 
man law.  The  adjustment  of  the  individual  to  the 
sovereignty  of  law  had  broken  the  necks  of  all 
nations,  and  the  fulness  of  time  had  come  for 
Christianity,  with  its  doctrine  of  the  divine-human 
God  whose  relation  to  the  individual  human  soul 
was  that  of  Father  to  son.  The  ten  silent  centu- 
ries,” which  Tieck  describes  as  finding  a voice  in 
Dante,  were  all  needed  to  complete  the  assimila- 
tion of  the  heathen  view  of  the  world,  which  itself 
was  essentially  a religious  ” view,  in  the  sense  given 
to  the  word  by  a great  saint  of  the  English  Church, 
Maurice.  For  the  Roman  religio  was  essentially  a 
ritual,  and  ceremonial  to  the  last  degree. 


IN  TROD  UCTION 


V 


Up  to  Dante’s  time  Christianity  had  reacted 
against  pantheistic  faiths  that  it  encountered  in 
Western  Asia  and  Egypt,  to  such  an  extent  that 
it  laid  too  much  stress  on  the  arbitrary  will  of  God, 
and  ignored  the  laws  of  nature,  and  came  very  near 
to  denying  even  the  rational  consistency  in  the  di- 
vine decrees.  A change  had  set  in,  which  still,  after 
seven  centuries,  swings  towards  the  opposite  extreme 
in  our  own  time, — a tendency  to  discover  a divine 
eternal  nature  of  things  even  superior  to  God’s  will, 
and  to  set  extravagant  value  on  discovered  natural 
laws.^ 

The  Mohammedan  world-movement  was  the  im- 
mediate cause  of  the  change.  Its  external  phase 
appeared  in  wars  of  conquest  that  finally  led  Chris- 
tendom to  unite  in  the  Crusades.  Its  internal  phase 
took  shape  in  Arabian  philosophy  and  natural  sci- 
ence, taught  in  its  schools  in  Spain,  which  compelled 
Christendom  to  stand  on  the  defensive  in  scholarship 
and  philosophic  thought.  These  two  phases  had  pro- 
duced their  greatest  effects  before  Dante  was  born. 
The  eighth  and  last  Crusade,  led  by  St.  Louis  of 
France,  was  begun  when  he  was  five  years  old. 
Thomas  Aquinas  and  Albertus  Magnus  died  before 
his  fifteenth  year,  after  they  had  given  a scientific 
form  to  Christian  Theology. 

Coming  at  this  epoch  Dante  elaborates  his  great 


VI 


A STUD  Y OF  DANTE, 


poem.  Its  form  is  partly  theologic.  A new  literary 
art  had  not  hitherto  emerged  from  the  new  religion 
which  had  destroyed  all  of  the  old.  We  see  now  an 
entirely  new  literary  form  invented,  not  epic  nor  yet 
dramatic  or  lyric.  In  the  ‘‘Divine  Comedy’’  the 
collisions  of  the  individual  with  institutions  are  not 
borne  by  special  heroes  whose  fate  we  watch  with 
breathless  interest  as  we  follow  the  caprices  of  Achil- 
les or  the  wanderings  of  Ulysses.  But  instead  of 
one  collision  for  the  entire  poem,  we  behold  hun- 
dreds of  such  collisions  as  we  pass  through  the  lower 
world  and  climb  the  mountain  of  purification.  The 
tragic  personalities  are  so  foreshortened  in  the  per- 
spective in  which  we  see  them  that  their  deeds  seem 
to  issue  forth  from  their  perverse  wills  and  to  return 
immediately  upon  their  persons  in  the  shape  of 
sufferings  too  grievous  to  be  borne.  That  the  re- 
sponsible, free  agent,  man,  does  to  himself  whatever 
he  does,  that  his  deeds  return  to  the  doer,  is  made 
apparent  in  this  poem  without  the  delays  of  a long 
life  or  even  the  intervention  of  the  incidents  of  a 
long  epic  poem. 

Commentary  has  accumulated  its  labors  to  clear 
up  the  philological  difficulties  of  the  archaic  text. 
Archaeology  and  history  and  biography  have  also 
been  drawn  upon  to  illustrate  the  obscure  passages. 
But  all  these  useful,  even  indispensable  instrumen- 


IN  TROD  UCTION. 


Vll 


talities  leave  us  still  outside  of  the  mystic  unfathom- 
able song/'  We  must  press  through  into  its  heart 
and  soul.  The  thought,  what  there  is  essential  in 
it,  must  be  translated  out  of  the  theosophic  form  of 
the  Middle  Ages,  to  the  end  that  we^  may  find 
nourishment  in  the  poem  for  ourselves  in  this  our 
own  century. 

Commentary  has  thrown  light  on  the  mythological 
framework  of  the  poem,  as  well  as  on  its  vocabulary 
of  words  and  its  figures  and  prosody.  But  on  the 
perennial  significance  of  the  vision  as  a valid  and 
eternal  insight  of  Dante,  there  is  still  room  for  the 
best  species  of  commentary.  It  is  confessed  that  this 
requires  a higher  order  of  talent.  Erudition,  the 
result  of  patient  and  praiseworthy  diligence  that 
searches  through  the  piles  of  dusty  rubbish  for  the 
wherewithal  to  illustrate  the  great  poem  and  bring 
us  face  to  face  with  a long-vanished  era  of  human 
life, — this,  by  itself,  produces  for  us  the  series  of  com- 
mentaries that  have  brought  about  the  resurrection 
of  the  body  of  this  poem.  But  it  requires  profound 
thought  and  subtle  poetic  gifts  to  bring  back  its 
living  soul.  ^ 

To  those  who  suppose  themselves  sufficiently 
equipped  in  the  possession  of  the  contributions  of 
erudition  to  the  work  of  illustrating  Dante's  poem, 
it  may  seem  a useless  task  to  add  a commentary  on 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE, 


viii 


the  view  of  the  world  therein  presented  and  on  its 
permanent  validity.  Upon  examination,  however, 
we  become  convinced  that  there  are  numerous  com- 
mentators on  the  great  world-poets  who  find  their 
delight  in  illustrating  their  authors  by  the  results  of 
mere  erudition,  without  looking  forward  to  any  pos- 
sible use  that  may  be  derived  from  their  labors  in 
unlocking  treasures  of  beauty  and  truth.  And  we 
are  even  more  surprised  to  learn  from  their  confes- 
sions that  they  are  profound  sceptics  in  respect  to 
the  doctrine,  that  there  is  in  these  works  any  truth 
to  be  found,  or  any  view  of  life  embodied  there,  that 
will  bear  translation  into  our  current  forms  of  state- 
ment. 

Their  theory  of  the  greatest  literary  productions 
therefore  is  hostile  to  the  view  that  looks  upon  them 
as  revelations  of  human  nature.  Surely,  if  Homer 
or  Dante  saw  deeply  into  human  nature,  their  in- 
sights are  precisely  what  is  most  valuable  to  us,  and 
a commentary  unfolding  this  insight  the  most  profit- 
able to  read.  We  should  need,  not  one  alone  of  this 
species  of  commentary,  but  rather  an  entire  literature 
of  such,  in  order  to  furnish  aid  to  all  classes  of  minds 
that  may  be  benefited  by  access  to  the  great  poems. 

An  objection  has  been  made  to  commentary  on 
the  spiritual  contents  of  the  great  poems  by  quite  a 
different  class  of  literary  men  from  those  sad  seep- 


IN  TROD  UCTION 


IX 


tics  who  believe  the  meaning  of  the  great  poem  has 
become  obsolete  forever,  and  who  merely  wish  to 
decorate  its  empty  dwelling.  I refer  to  those  who 
say  that  the  poem  itself  is  its  best  commentary. 
They  admit,  however,  the  first  class  of  commentators, 
those  of  erudition,  for  they  see  quite  plainly  that  the 
externalities  of  costume  have  grown  antiquated  and 
need  to  be  made  familiar  again.  But  they  do  not 
perceive  equally  well  that  the  view  of  the  world  of 
one  epoch  presents  itself  under  a masque  that  ob- 
scures it  to  another.  They  seem  to  forget  that  the 
great  world-poem  holds  up  its  mirror  to  the  world  of 
humanity,  and  reflects  its  deepest  secrets  as  well  as 
its  most  open  and  external  fashions  and  forms.  It  is 
not  a system  of  philosophy,  nor  of  theology,  nor  any 
form  of  science  or  history.  It  is  a work  of  art,  re- 
flecting the  life  of  the  age,  and  therefore  contains  all 
of  these  elements  organically  united  with  the  other 
elements  of  that  life.  Hence,  if  we  are  to  become 
distinctly  conscious  of  them,  we  must  discover  them 
one  by  one  through  analytical  labors.  And,  just  as 
in  all  successful  undertakings,  we  must  avail  our- 
selves of  the  results  of  the  toil  of  others  to  reinforce 
our  own. 

The  analysis  that  points  out  the  treatment  of  a 
separate  thread  in  the  poem  does  not  destroy  the 
poem  by  some  process  of  anatomy,  as  has  been 


X 


A STUD  Y OF  DANTE. 


feared.  All  that  is  necessary  to  render  analytic 
studies  of  the  greatest  service  in  helping  us  to  realize 
the  organic  unity  of  the  poem  is  that  the  commentator 
shows  how  the  unity  of  the  poem  is  reflected  in  the 
special  element  treated.  The  more  reflections  of 
the  central  idea  made  to  appear  in  the  details  of  the 
poem,  the  more  its  organic  wholeness  is  shown. 

All  new  students  of  literature  need  guides  to  what 
is  essential.  No  advanced  student  of  literature  can 
afford  to  neglect  the  combined  labors  of  his  fellow 
students.  Each  individual  purifies  his  own  critical 
judgment  through  the  aid  of  the  brotherhood  of 
scholars. 

In  this  view,  the  following  essays  by  Miss  Blow, 
on  the  significance  of  the  divine  comedy  as  a study 
of  life  in  its  human  and  divine  aspects,  must  be  wel- 
comed by  the  large  and  growing  class  of  thoughtful 
readers  of  Dante.  They  will  find,  if  I mistake  not, 
many  new  and  important  reflections  on  the  perma- 
nent content  of  the  poem,  and  many  hints  that  will 
aid  in  the  interpretation  of  its  mythologic  forms 
into  valid  meanings  to  the  consciousness  of  the 
present  age.  Her  sympathetic  study  has  enabled 
her  to  reproduce,  in  a vivid  manner,  the  atmosphere 
of  the  three  several  parts  of  the  poem  and  assist  us 
to  feel  the  ethical  inspiration  that  fired  the  poet. 
The  Inferno  is  shown  to  us  not  as  a remote  and 


IN  TROD  UCTION 


XI 


monstrous  product  of  the  faith  held  by  man  in  his 
infancy,  but  as  a living  reality  that  surrounds  us  all 
— an  essential  condition  of  the  soul  when  it  sways 
from  harmony  with  its  true  nature.  The  Purgatory 
is  seen  as  the  perennial  struggle  of  the  repentant 
soul  for  purification.  The  Paradiso  is  not  a mere 
future  state  of  blessedness,  but  also  the  eternal 
atmosphere  of  all  right-doing  and  knowing  of  the 
true.  Dante’s  powerful  images  are  shown  to  have 
truth  for  us,  not  as  literal  or  prose  statements 
of  doctrine,  but  as  figurative  statements  of  the 
profoundest  insights  into  human  life. 

W.  T.  HARRIS.  ' 

Concord,  Mass., 

January , 1886, 


■-r 


m' 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE 


INFERNO. 


To  know  how  hard  the  wind  is  blowing  one  must 
sail  against  the  wind.  To  measure  the  force  of  a 
stream  one  must  swim  against  its  current.  That  the 
tendencies  of  any  given  age  may  be  comprehended, 
they  must  be  surveyed  from  the  standpoint  of  an  age 
different  in  its  habits  of  thought.  Drifting  with  his 
generation,  the  individual  cannot  gauge  its  strength, 
and  sees  neither  the  direction  in  which  it  moves  nor 
the  goal  toward  which  it  tends. 

We  live  in  an  age  which  is  rapidly  losing  the  con- 
sciousness of  sin.  Equally  alien  to  our  feeling  are 
the  physical  self-scourgings  of  the  mediaeval  saint 
and  the  spiritual  agony  of  the  Puritan.  The  burden 
which  bore  so  heavily  upon  Christian  sits  very  lightly 
upon  us.  We  hear  much  of  the  soul  of  goodness  in 
things  evil,  and,  reversing  the  disguise  of  Satan  as  an 
angel  of  light,  we  are  learning  to  look  on  sin  as  an 
angel  veiled  in  darkness.  The  doctrine  of  the  fall 
of  man  is  interpreted  to  mean  ascent  to  a more  con- 
scious plane  of  existence.  “ Paradise  is  a park 
where  only  brutes,  not  men,  can  remain,*'  and  it  is  a 


2 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE. 


rise  and  not  a fall  which  is  symbolized  in  the  mythus 
of  the  woman,  the  serpent,  and  the  tree.  Out  of 
the  depth  of  Donatello's  sin  is  born  the  conscience 
which  converts  the  faun  into  the  man.  Faust  fear- 
lessly  allies  himself  with  the  Devil,  and  makes  him 
the  instrument  of  his  salvation.  The  poets  with  one 
voice  teach  that  by  ministry  of  evil  good  is  clear," 
that  evil  will  bless  and  ice  will  burn,"  and  that  we 
“ rise  on  stepping-stones  of  our  dead  selves  to  higher 
things."  The  scientist  assures  us  that  “ men  end  by 
going  right  after  trying  every  imaginable  way  of 
going  wrong,"  and  the  history  of  the  world  is  shown 
to  be  a course  of  practical  logic,  through  which  man 
is  gradually  learning  wisdom  from  his  mistakes. 
Thus  sin  is  no  more  sin,  and,  instead  of  groaning 
with  the  Apostle,  O wretched  man  that  I am  ! who 
shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death  ? " we 
plume  ourselves  on  the  secrets  wrested  from  con- 
quered wrong,  and  cheerfully  condone  the  wrong 
that  is  yet  unconquered. 

The  thought  upon  which  this  view  of  sin  ulti- 
mately rests  is,  that  man  can  only  learn  what  he  is 
by  finding  out  what  he  is  not,  and  that  the  violation 
of  his  ideal  nature  in  its  reaction  reveals  him  to  him- 
self. So  long  as  he  acted  in  accord  with  his  nature, 
there  could  be  neither  self-consciousness  nor  spiritual 
freedom.  There  must  be  contrast  before  there  can 


INFERNO. 


3 


be  comprehension,  and,  as  we  know  light  through 
darkness,  we  can  realize  good  only  through  the  min- 
istry of  evil. 

Whatever  else  this  theory  may  or  may  not  be,  it  is 
distinctly  anti-Christian.  There  can  be  no  sympa- 
thy between  a philosophy  which  sees  in  sin  the  con- 
dition of  a realized  self-consciousness  and  a religion 
which  heralds  its  founder  as  the  Lamb  of  God 
which  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world.'*  The 
Christian  consciousness  has  always  defined  sin  as 
rebellion  against  God,  “the  act  of  a traitor  who  aims 
at  the  death  and  overthrow  of  his  sovereign."  Sin, 
according  to  the  Christian  Church,  is  that  which,  had 
it  power  so  to  do,  would  drag  God  from  his  throne, 
and  would  rejoice  could  He  cease  to  be.  It  brings 
forth  no  good  but  only  evil,  and  evil  continually, 
and,  far  from  rising  through  it  to  the  heights  of 
vision  and  attainment,  man  sinks  through  it  to  a 
condition  worse  than  that  of  the  unconscious  brute. 

To  realize  how  totally  the  thought  of  to-day  con- 
tradicts the  Christian  theory  of  sin,  one  needs  but  to 
study  that  theory  as  expounded  by  the  great  poet 
of  the  Church  in  his  “ Divina  Commedia."  Nowhere 
shall  we  find  such  vital  grappling  with  the  universal 
problem  of  man  as  in  the  utterances  of  this  sternest 
and  tenderest  of  poets.  “ Behold,  therefore,  the 
goodness  and  the  severity  of  God,"  exclaims  the 


4 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE, 


inspired  writer.  ‘‘  Behold  the  infinite  love  and  the 
infinite  rigor  of  the  man  taught  of  God/'  our  hearts 
exclaim  as,  following  Dante,  we  penetrate  to  the 
ultimate  depths  of  sin  and  misery,  and  learn  at  last 
the  genesis,  the  development,  and  the  outcome  of 
evil. 

Dante  has  been  called  the  voice  of  ten  silent  cen- 
turies, and  certain  it  is  that  the  truths  to  which  he 
gave  immortal  expression  had,  during  these  ages, 
been  slowly  crystallizing  in  the  consciousness  of  the 
Christian  world.  His  poem  is  not  individual,  but 
universal ; he  utters  not  his  own  thought,  but  the  un- 
formulated creed  of  Christendom.  Nay,  he  reaches 
beyond  Christianity  and  speaks  to  the  universal  con- 
science of  humanity — that  inward  witness  which  is 
always  calling  upon  man  to  rejoice  in  his  freedom 
and  tremble  before  the  responsibility  bound  up 
with  it. 

The  Divina  Commedia  ” is  the  outcome  of  a 
profound  and  exhaustive  reflection  upon  the  facts  of 
the  moral  world.  Reflection,  in  all  of  its  forms,  in- 
volves the  reduction  of  the  infinitude  of  particular 
things  to  a finitude  of  classes,  and  culminates  in  that 
philosophic  insight  which  reduces  this  finitude  of 
classes  to  the  unity  of  an  inclusive  process.  Ade- 
quate reflection  upon  the  moral  world  should  there- 
fore result  in  the  classification  of  its  complicated 


INFERNO. 


5 


phenomena,  and  in  the  ultimate  discovery  of  the 
genesis  and  development  both  of  good  and  evil. 

It  is  because  Dante  has  traced  this  genetic  devel- 
opment that  the  Divina  Commedia  ''  is  an  organic 
whole  vitalized  throughout  by  one  all-penetrating 
thought.  This  fundamental  insight  is  that,  as  man 
is  a derivative  being,  the  condition  of  a true  develop- 
ment must  be  an  uninterrupted  connection  and  com- 
munion with  his  source.  As  right  relationship  to 
the  sun  solves  the  secret  of  the  planetary  system,  so 
right  relationship  to  God  solves  the  secrets  of  life 
and  thought.  As  a stream  cut  off  from  its  fountain- 
head must  inevitably  dry  up,  so  the  soul  which  sepa- 
rates itself  from  God  destroys  itself.  It  is  a dying 
soul,  which  can  be  restored  to  life  only  by  the  re- 
newal of  its  relationship  to  God.  In  the  substitution 
of  self  for  God  lies  the  germ  of  all  sin.  Because 
thy  heart  is  lifted  up,  and  thou  hast  said  I am  God 
and  I sit  in  the  chair  of  God  (whereas  thou  art  a man 
and  not  God),  and  hast  set  thy  heart  as  if  it  were  the 
heart  of  God,  therefore  I will  bring  thee  to  nothing, 
and  thou  shalt  not  be,  and  if  thou  be  sought  for  thou 
shalt  not  be  found  any  more  forever.’' 

Conformably  to  this  theory,  the  Divina  Com- 
media/’  in  its  three  divisions,,  treats  ^TTHe  dbr- 
ruption  of  the  will,  the  purification  of  the  will,  and 
the  perfection  of  the  will.  The  Inferno  ” traces 


6 


A STUB  Y OF  DANTE, 


the  history  of  the  soul,  as,  emptied  of  God,  it  be- 
comes progressively  filled  with  self ; the  Purga- 
torio  shows  us  the  gradual  emptying  of  self,  and 
the  Paradiso  the  filling  of  the  soul  with  God. 
The  poem  culminates  with  the  rapture  of  the  beatific 
vision — the  steadfast,  immovable,  attentive  gaze  of 
the  soul  upon  that  Light,  ‘‘  in  whose  presence  one 
such  becomes 

“ That  to  withdraw  therefrom  for  other  prospect 
It  is  impossible  he  e’er  consent.” 

It  is  a truth  which  is  too  generally  ignored,  that 
all  duties  arise  out  of  relationships.  It  is  because 
there  are  fathers,  mothers,  children,  sisters,  and 
brothers,  that  there  are  parental,  filial,  and  fraternal 
duties;  it  is  because  a man  has  a country  that  he 
should  be  a patriot;  it  is  through  friends  that  we 
learn  the  sweet  obligations  of  friendship ; and  it  is 
because  the  world  is  full  of  the  aged,  the  poor,  the 
sinful,  and  the  sorrowing,  that  we  are  called  on  to 
exercise  reverence,  pity,  charity,  and  sympathy. 
Finally,  it  is  because  our  souls  are  bound  up  with  a 
material  frame  that  we  struggle  for  the  conquest  of 
the  flesh  by  the  spirit,  and  it  is  because  there  is  an 
infinite  God  that  our  souls  yearn  towards  him  with 
aspiration,  and  bow  before  him  with  awe.  Partic- 
ular relationships  are  the  conditions  of  particular 


INFERNO. 


duties,  and  all  particular  relationships  are  grounded 
in  the  fundamental  relationship  which  makes  them 
possible. 

Keeping  before  us  this  central  thought  of  the 
poem,  let  us  now  study  in  detail  the  problem  of  sin 
and  punishment  as  dealt  with  by  Dante  in  the  “ In- 
ferno.'' Omitting  the  first  two  cantos,  which  relate 
how  the  poet  came  to  undertake  his  arduous  pil- 
grimage, we  find  ourselves  at  the  beginning  of  the 
third  canto  standing  before  the  gate  of  Hell.  Over 
the  gate  is  this  inscription : 

‘‘Through  me  is  the  way  into  the  doleful  city; 
through  me  the  way  into  the  eternal  pain  ; through 
me  the  way  among  the  people  lost.  Justice  moved 
my  high  Maker ; Divine  Power  made  me.  Wisdom 
Supreme  and  Primal  Love." 

The  sense  of  this  inscription  is  so  alien  to  the 
sentiment  of  to-day,  that  it  is  hard  for  our  minds  to 
grasp.  Its  implicit  argument  is  this  : If  man  is  free 
he  is  responsible.  If  he  is  responsible,  justice 
requires  the  return  of  his  deed  upon  him.  To  spare 
him  the  result  of  his  own  activity  is  to  insult  his 
ideal  nature  by  denying  his  freedom.  Hell  is  the 
Creator's  final  tribute  of  respect  to  the  being  he 
made  in  his  own  image ; and,  as  both  Wisdom  an^ 
Love  imply  recognition  of  the  essential  nature  of 
their  object,  They  concur "w^^ 
the  punishment  of  the  sinner. 


8 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE, 


It  is  easy  to  find  fault  with  this  view  of  man's  nat- 
ure and  responsibilities,  but  it  is  hard  to  substitute 
for  it  one  which  is  not  open  to  more  vital  objection. 
The  practical  denial  of  human  freedom  would  be  the 
dissolution  of  organized  society,  for  our  whole  inter- 
course with  each  other  is  based  upon  a recognition 
of  that  responsibility  which  current  theories  so 
lightly  set  aside.  It  is  to  me  a most  significant  fact 
that  the  false  philosophy  which  denies  man’s  responsi- 
bility culminates  in  denial  of  his  immortality ; and, 
if  it  emancipates  the  sinner  from  the  fear  of  hell,  it 
destroys  for  the  struggling  saint  the  hope  of  heaven. 
In  its  outcome  it  is  more  cruel  far  than  the  faith  it 
condemns,  for  that,  at  least,  has  eternal  happiness  as 
a set-off  to  everlasting  pains,  while  this  makes  all 
our  hopes  a lie,  and  sinks  the  evil  and  the  good  in 
the  same  blank  annihilation. 

What  mainly  interferes  with  our  acceptance  of  the 
Dantean  theory  of  punishment  is  the  unconscious 
materialism  of  our  thought.  By  the  average  mind 
penalty  is  conceived  as  something  external  to,  and 
distinct  from,  the  spiritual  result  of  sin.  It  is  some- 
thing done  to  the  sinner,  not  something  which  he 
through  his  sin  does  to  himself.  Dante’s  view  (it 
would  seem  to  me)  is  that  through  repeated  sinful 
acts  the  soul  attains  a grade  of  permanence  in  sin. 
The  long  conflict  between  good  and  evil  comes  at 


INFERNO, 


9 


last  to  an  end,  and  the  sin  in  which  we  have  indulged 
is  stamped  upon  the  soul  as  its  eternal  form.  And, 
as  sin  is  dominant  within,  it  is  universalized  without 
us.  The  glutton  is  immersed  in  his  gluttony,  and 
surrounded  by  other  gluttons  ; the  carnal  sinners  are 
driven  about  in  the  total  darkness  of  their  souls  by 
the  fierce  winds  of  their  passions,  and  are  cut  off  by 
their  own  limitation  from  comprehension  of  any 
other  type  of  character  than  their  own.  By  our 
own  acts  we  determine  ourselves,  and  only  what  we 
are  can  we  recognize  in  others.  Our  punishment  is 
what  we  ultimately  become  mirrored  to  conscious- 
ness through  our  surroundings. 

Throughout  the  ‘‘  Inferno ''  the  varying  punish- 
ments are  sirnply  the  external  symbols  of  yarying 
phases_pf  sinful  con^sciousness.  The  wrathful  are 
immersed  in  boiling  mud ; the  violent  in  a river  of 
blood.  The  hypocrites,  a painted  people,''  wearing 
cloaks  all  gilt  without,  all  lead  within,  are  moving 
round  with  steps  exceeding  slow,  and  in  their  looks 
are  tired  and  overcome."  The  thieves,  whose  deed 
universalized  would  make  it  impossible  to  know 
‘‘whose  was  whose  or  what  was  what,"  are  seen  in 
an  eternal  process  of  transformation  into  the  ser- 
pents, who  aptly  symbolize  their  creeping  stealth. 
Flatterers  are  immersed  in  filth,  “ for  those  things 
which  proceed  out  of  the  mouth  come  forth  from  the 


lO 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE, 


heart,  and  they  defile  a man/’  Schismatics,  who 
have  made  division  where  there  should  be  unity,  are 
eternally  cleft  by  a sword-bearing  devil,  and  the  con- 
suming flame  of  conscience  swathes  the  evil  counsel- 
lors who  have  employed  God’s  great  gift  of  wisdom 
to  deceive  their  fellow-men. 

Man  is  free ! This  is  the  first  truth  emphasized 
by  our  mediaeval  poet.  Pass  now  with  him  through 
the  gate  of  Hell,  and  learn  how  free  man  makes  him- 
self the  slave  of  sin.  “ Our  wills  are  ours  to  make 
them  thine  ” ; rational  freedom  is  the  soul’s  volun- 
tary choice  of  the  good.  We  have  said  that  we 
should  trace  through  the  Inferno  ” the  progressive 
filling  of  the  soul  with  self,  and  lo ! the  first  spirits 
we  meet,  as  we  step  upon  the  starless  plain,  are 
those  who  illustrate  selfishness  in  its  emptiest  and 
most  abstract  form.  Dante’s  description  of  them  is 
a most  scathing  one.  “ They  lived  without  blame 
and  without  praise ; to  God  they  were  neither  faith- 
ful nor  rebellious.  Heaven  chased  them  forth,  and 
the  deep  hell  refused  to  receive  them.  Mercy  and 
judgment  disdain  them,  and  report  of  them  the 
world  permits  not  to  exist.  They  have  no  hope  of 
death,  and  their  blind  life  is  so  mean  that  they  are 
envious  of  every  other  lot.”  The  description  con- 
centrates in  the  twofold  statement  that  they  were 
for  self,  and  that  they  never  were  alive.”  They  did 


INFERNO, 


1 1 

not  deny  the  truth,  they  simply  never  thought  about 
it ; they  did  not  rebel  against  God,  they  ignored 
Him ; they  did  not  consciously  assert  themselves, 
they  merely  indulged  each  passing  caprice.  They 
are  the  representatives  of  that  frivolous  class  who 
live  only  in  the  moment,  and  in  the  moment  think 
only  of  themselves.  Petty  passions  sting  them  like 
wasps  and  hornets,  and,  goaded  by  the  capricious 
love  of  change,  they  forever  chase  a whirling  ensign 
which  scorns  all  pause.  In  the  stage  of  immediate 
impulse  they  have  substituted  self  for  God,  and 
indulgence  for  obligation ; the  house  is  empty, 
swept,  and  garnished,  all  too  ready  for  the  evil 
spirits  who  will  soon  rush  in.  Is  it  significant  that 
of  these  souls  there  is  such  a long  train  that 
scarcely  could  the  poet  believe  death  had  undone  so 
many  ? 

As  the  return  of  man's  deed  upon  him  is  the  Cre- 
ator's recognition  of  the  creature's  dignity,  so  the 
fruit  of  sin  in  the  soul  is  the  denial  of  personal  ac- 
countability. The  victim  of  caprice  is  always  a 
fatalist  ; he  is  the  slave  of  his  own  unconscious 
self,  and  he  projects  this  inward  necessity  as  ex- 
ternal limit.  The  souls  who  assemble  on  the  joy- 
less strand  of  Acheron  blaspheme  God,  and  their 
progenitors,  the  human  kind,  the  place,  the  time  and 
origin  of  their  seed  and  of  their  birth."  Every  thing 


12 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE. 


and  every  person  in  the  universe  is  to  blame  for  their 
condition  except  themselves. 

^mmin^  up  this  introductory  canto,  we  have, 
first,  recognition  of  the  source  of  punishment  ifTthe 
Divine  Justice  ; second,  recognition  of  the  first  phase 
of  sin  in  the  blank  form  of  selfishness  ; third,  recog- 
nition of  the  outcome  of  sin  in  the  repudiation  of 
personal  freedom  and  responsibility.  In  the  remain- 
ing cantos  selfishness  will  realize  itself  in  an  infini- 
tude of  particular  manifestations,  and  culminate  in 
the  concrete  unity  of  selfish  form  and  content  in  the 
person  of  Lucifer. 

We  have  seen  that  duties  arise  out  of  relation- 
ships, and  that  all  secondary  relationships  are 
grounded  in  the  fundamental  relationship  to  God. 
Man  draws  from  God  the  power  to  realize  himself. 
It  follows  that  the  progressive  realization  of  his  own 
ideal  nature  is  a progressive  approximation  to  the 
divine  type,  and  that  the  complete  indwelling  of 
God  is  the  perfection  of  man.  Truth  and  good- 
ness are  not  abstractions — they  are  the  eternal 
thought  and  will  of  God.  What  God  thinks  is 
the  true  ; what  God  wills  is  the  good — or,  rather,  as 
in  Him  knowing  and  willing  are  one,  truth  and 
goodness  are  but  distinctions  in  the  unity  of  His 
Eternal  Act. 

Some  degree  of  insight  into  the  nature  of  God  is 


INFERNO. 


13 


therefore  the  necessary  condition  of  any  understand- 
ing of  what  is  right  or  wrong,  good  or  evil.  If  to  be 
good  is  to  be  like  God,  and  to  be  wicked  is  to  be  un- 
like Him,  it  is  of  infinite  importance  that  we  know 
who  and  what  He  is.  Parallel  with  the  vanishing 
consciousness  of  sin  has  been  the  disappearance  of 
all  definiteness  in  the  conception  of  the  first  prin- 
ciple of  the  world,  and  the  theory  that  God  is  un- 
knowable has  kept  even  pace  with  the  theory  that 
man  is  irresponsible.  The  restoration  of  a divine 
ideal  would  be  also  the  restoration  of  our  guilty 
sense  of  alienation  from  it.  I have  heard  of 
Thee,’*  exclaims  Job,  ‘‘by  the  hearing  of  the  ear, 
but  now  mine  eye  seeth  Thee,  wherefore  I abhor 
myself  and  repent  in  dust  and  ashes.” 

If  we  try  to  think  the  creative  principle  of  the 
world,  we  come  at  once  face  to  face  with  the  idea  of 
self-activity.  By  self-activity  is  meant  an  activity 
that  acts  upon  itself : as  a creative  principle  logically 
antedates  all  creation,  it  must  be  self-active,  for  the 
obvious  reason  that  there  is  nothing  but  itself  for  it 
to  act  upon.  Its  activity,  therefore,  begins  from  and 
comes  back  to  itself.  It  is  a circular  process,  and 
therefore  necessarily  an  eternal  process.  It  has  been 
complete  from  all  eternity,  and  yet  repeats  itself  in 
every  moment  of  time. 

Rightly  apprehended,  a process  of  self-activity  is 


14 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE. 


seen  to  be  necessarily  a process  of  thought,  for 
thought  alone  has  the  power  of  acting  upon  itself. 
All  natural  objects  and  forces  are  results  of  an  ac- 
tivity external  to  themselves.  But  thought  creates 
itself,  embodies  itself,  realizes  itself,  and  defines  it- 
self. There  can  be  nothing  higher,  or  wider,  or 
deeper  than  thought,  for  ‘Mt  is  the  form  of  an  in- 
finite content ; there  can  be  nothing  back  of 
thought,  for,  whatever  we  may  set  up  as  prior  to 
thought,  thought  gets  back  of  it  through  thinking 
it.  In  a word,  that  which  exists  in  thought  cannot 
antedate  or  include  thought. 

The  realized  form  of  thought  is  self-consciousness, 
and  this  involves  the  distinction  of  the  self  from  the 
self,  and  the  persistent  identification  with  self  of  the 
self  thus  distinguished.  The  eternal  distinction  of 
the  self  is  the  begetting  of  an  eternal  object,  the 
eternal  identification  of  this  object  with  self  is  eter- 
nal recognition,  communion,  or  love.  This  is  the 
truth  revealed  to  faith  in  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity, 
and  which  inspired  the  rapt  utterance  of  Dante  when 
he  exclaimed  : 

“ O Light  eterne,  sole  in  thyself  that  dwellest, 

Sole  knowest  thyself  and  known  unto  thyself, 

And  knowing  lovest  and  smilest  on  thyself.” 

Self-activity  and  communion,  or  spiritual  interpen- 
etration, are  therefore  the  marks  of  the  divine  nature. 


INFERNO, 


15 


Hence  man,  made  in  the  image  of  God,  develops 
through  active  combination  with  his  fellows. 
Through  organization  the  individual  man  avails 
himself  of  the  strength,  the  experience,  and  the  in- 
sight of  total  humanity.  Whatever  nullifies  activity, 
or  strikes  at  participation,  is  evil,  and  the  final  out- 
come of  evil  must  be  stagnation  absolute  and  isola- 
tion complete. 

This  insight  enables  us  to  understand  the  grading 
of  sins  in  the  Inferno.''  All  sin  strikes  either  indi- 
rectly or  directly  at  organized  society.  The  less 
heinous  sins  are  those  which  attack  society  indirectly, 
by  destroying  in  the  individual  man  the  qualities 
through  which  combination  is  possible.  These  are 
the  sins  punished  in  the  circles  of  Incontinence ; the 
next  degree  of  sin  is  that  in  which  there  is  the  attack 
of  man  upon  individual  men,  as  shown  in  the  circle 
of  Violence,  and  its  final  phase  is  that  in  which  the 
sinner,  first  by  fraud  and  then  by  treachery,  attacks 
the  social  whole.  That  fraud  made  universal  would 
cause  a relapse  into  savagism  is  symbolized  in  the 
primeval  giants  who  stand  as  sentinels  over  the 
region  of  the  fraudulent,  while  the  self-exclusion  and 
self-destruction  brought  about  by  treachery  are 
strikingly  imaged  in  Lucifer  frozen  in  the  bottom  of 
the  pit. 

Having  defined  sin,  and  indicated  its  increasing 


i6 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE, 


degrees,  our  next  object  must  be  to  seek  its  origin, 
and  trace  its  gradual  development  and  expansion 
within  the  soul.  This  can  best  be  done  by  a careful 
analysis  and  comparison  of  the  sins  punished  in  the 
different  circles  of  the  ‘‘  Inferno.”  If  we  can  dis- 
cover in  them  a principle  of  evolution,  and  can  show 
that  in  the  process  of  sin  man's  essential  nature  is 
progressively  destroyed,  we  shall  have  settled  the 
question  as  to  whether  sin  is  the  instrumentality 
through  which  man  rises  out  of  the  condition  of  un- 
conscious unity  into  that  of  spiritual  fellowship  with 
God. 

Limbo,  the  outermost  circle  of  the  Inferno,”  is 
peopled  by  souls  who  have  perished  through  defect. 
Virgil,  who  is  one  of  them,  describes  himself  as  by 
not  doing,  not  by  doing,  lost.”  Among  these  souls 
some  have  attained  to  heroic  virtue  and  some  to 
philosophic  insight.  They  have  realized  the  fulness 
of  purely  human  thought,  of  human  love,  and  of 
earthly  fame.  The  great  poets  have  pleasure  in 
each  other,  and  Aristotle,  “master  of  those  that 
know,”  sits  amid  a philosophic  family,  who  all  regard 
and  do  him  honor.  But  no  finite  good  can  satisfy 
an  infinite  craving,  and  if  even  the  highest  purely 
human  life  be  placed  under  ''  the  form  of  eternity,” 
its  honors  will  show  themselves  empty  and  its  joys 
declare  themselves  vain.  Naught  but  God  can 


INFERNO. 


17 


satisfy  the  soul  He  maketh  great/'  Hence  the  great 
souls  in  Limbo,  without  torment,  suffer  sadness,  and 
without  hope  live  on  in  desire. 

Following  Limbo  are  four  circles  in  which  are 
punished  the  souls  who  subjected  reason  to  lust," 
the  Glutton,  the  Avaricious  and  Prodigal,  and  the 
Wrathful  and  Gloomy.  The  carnal  sinners  are  borne 
ever  onwards  in  the  sweep  of  a hellish  storm  ; the 
gluttons  are  lying  prostrate  on  the  ground  ; Cerberus, 
emblem  of  their  blind  voracity,"  eternally  barks  at 
them,  and  rends  them,  and  down  upon  them  pours 
unceasing  a storm  of  hail,  foul  water,  and  snow. 
The  avaricious  and  prodigal,  those  who  placed 
their  happiness  in  gold,  and  those  who  placed  their 
happiness  in  what  gold  could  buy,"  roll  heavyweights 
and  smite  them  against  each  other.  The  prodigal 
cries  to  the  avaricious  : Why  boldest  thou  ? " and 

the  avaricious  retorts,  “Why  throwest  thou  away?' 
Intrinsically  their  sin  is  one.  Make  avarice  universal, 
and  trade  and  commerce  are  impossible,  the  move- 
ment of  practical  life  ceases,  and  the  social  order  is 
destroyed.  Universalize  prodigality,  and  the  result  is 
the  same.  In  the  one  case  no  man  can  get  any  thing, 
and  in  the  other  no  man  has  any  thing.  And  as 
this  twofold  crime  is  essentially  against  society,  and 
society  rests  upon  the  principle  of  recognition,  both 
miser  and  spendthrift  are  made  unrecognizable. 


i8 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE, 


‘ ‘ Their  undiscerning  life  which  made  them  vile 
Now  makes  them  unto  all  discernment  dim.” 

Sunk  in  the  marshy  Styx,  naked  and  muddy,  the 
souls  of  those  whom  anger  overcame  stand  smiting 
each  other,  not  with  hands  only,  but  with  head  and 
with  chest  and  with  feet ; and  beneath  the  water  and 
fixed  in  the  slime  are  the  gloomy  souls  forever 
gurgling  in  their  throats,  Sullen  were  we  in  the 
sweet  air  that  is  gladdened  by  the  sun,  carrying  lazy 
smoke  within  our  hearts,  now  lie  we  sullen  here  in 
the  black  mire.'’  Profound  insight  of  the  poet,  to 
mete  one  punishment  to  the  wrath  which  makes 
man  his  neighbor’s  enemy,  and  the  melancholy 
which  makes  him  an  enemy  to  himself ; and  subtle 
the  analysis  implied  in  the  lazy  smoke  carried  by 
the  gloomy  within  their  breasts.  God  is  Self- 
Activity  ; man  is  made  in  his  image  : hence,  all  that 
is  active  rejoices  the  soul,  and  all  that  is  passive 
palls  upon  it.  Sloth  is  man’s  denial  of  himself ; its 
next  phase  must  be  sullen  gloom,  and  its  final  out- 
come suicide,  corresponding  to  the  final  outcome  of 
anger,  which  is  murder. 

In  the  eleventh  canto  of  the  ''  Inferno,”  the  four 
classes  of  sins  just  described  are  grouped  together 
under  the  general  head  of  Incontinence,  and  this 
Incontinence  is  said  to  less  offend  God,  and  to 
receive  less  blame,  than  the  malice  and  mad  besti- 


INFERNO, 


19 


ality  met  with  in  the  lower  circles  of  the  Inferno/' 
As  contrasted  with  these  deeper  sins,  the  sins  of 
incontinence  are  less  conscious  and  deliberate,  and 
indicate  a less  extended  corruption  of  man's  moral 
nature.  They  are  sins  of  feeling  rather  than  sins  of 
thought  or  will.  Their  common  root  is  that  the 
man  seeks  self-gratification.  Carnal  sin,  gluttony, 
and  avarice  arise  from  the  excessive  indulgence  of 
natural  appetites,  and  anger  manifests  the  exag- 
gerated self-love  of  those 

“ Whom  injury  seems  to  chafe 
So  that  it  makes  them  greedy  for  revenge.'* 

If  it  be  true  that  duties  arise  out  of  relationships, 
each  special  duty  may  be  defined  as  expression  of 
the  feeling  which  should  be  stimulated  by  the 
relationship.  The  only  knowledge  presupposed  is 
knowledge  of  the  relationship  jtself.  Thus  a young 
child  understands  little  of  the  distinctions  between 
right  and  wrong,  but  from  the  very  dawn  of  his 
conscious  life  has  known  himself  as  guarded  by  a 
mother's  tireless  care,  and  blessed  by  a mother’s 
overflowing  love.  He  should  meet  this  love  with 
love  expressed  in  sympathetic  obedience.  Through 
obedience  to  wise  commands  he  will  himself  become 
wise,  for,  as  goodness  is  truth  in  act,  doing  the  good 
must  culminate  in  vision  of  the  true.  With  compre- 


20 


A STUD  Y OF  DANTE, 


hension  the  child  becomes  self-directing,  following 
the  good  of  his  own  independent  choice.  Indeed, 
we  may  say  there  has  been  choice  from  the  beginning, 
but,  whereas  he  first  chose  the  right  through  faith  in 
his  mother,  he  now  chooses  it  because  he  has  come 
to  know  it  as  the  substantial  truth  of  his  own  ideal 
nature.  The  final  stage  of  development  is  attained 
when,  through  repeated  activity,  he  has  so  deter- 
mined himself  in  the  image  of  the  good  that  he 
rises  above  choice,  and  by  a sweet  necessity  of 
nature  is  constrained  to  the  right. 

Just  as  the  child  shapes  himself  into  goodness 
through  love  for  his  mother,  so  man  shapes  himself 
into  goodness  through  love  for  God.  In  tracing 
backward  the  history  ot  man,  we  may  arrive  at  a 
point  when  his  mind  is  empty  of  all  knowledge 
except  the  knowledge  that  he  is  and  that  God  is. 
Consciousness  of  his  own  existence  and  conscious- 
ness of  his  primal  relationship  are  the  conditions  of 
his  normal  development.  And  as  love  should  be 
awakened  in  the  heart  of  the  child  by  the  love  of 
the  mother,  so  love  in  the  heart  of  man  should 
respond  to  the  love  which  called  him  into  being. 
We  love  Him  because  He  first  loved  us,  says  the 
Apostle,  and  no  student  of  Christ’s  method  of  train- 
ing can  have  failed  to  observe  that  he  grounds  all 
spiritual  graces  in  a personal  relationship  to  himself. 


INFERNO. 


21 


I repeat,  therefore,  that  goodness  in  man  is  pro- 
gressively generated  from  the  love  of  God.  In  its 
first  phase  empty  and  abstract,  but  concreting  and 
defining  itself  through  particular  acts  of  obedience, 
this  love  creates  in  man  the  image  of  God.  To 
know  God  we  must  be  like  God,  for  to  comprehend 
a spiritual  Being  is  to  be  in  substantial  identity  with 
Him.  Hence,  Christ  recognizes  the  attained  fellow- 
ship of  his  disciples,  by  declaring  that  he  will  call 
them  no  more  servants  but  friends,  and  the  yearning 
soul  of  the  Psalmist  refuses  to  be  satisfied  until  it 
shall  awake  in  the  likeness  of  God. 

Generalizing  our  statement,  we  may  say  that  the 
starting-point  of  human  development  lies  in  feeling. 
Feeling  rushes  into  act  and  act  defines  man  to  him- 
self. By  making  an  external  image  of  himself,  and 
looking  at  what  he  has  made,  man  learns  what  he  is. 
Thus  through  feeling  he  rises  into  thought,  and 
finally  expresses  the  concrete  unity  of  thought  and 
feeling  in  the  acts  of  the  conscious  will. 

It  follows  that  any  interruption  or  perversion  of 
the  course  of  man’s  normal  development  must  neces- 
sarily originate  within  the  sphere  of  feeling.  This 
perverted  feeling,  rushing  into  expression,  makes  for 
man  a false  image  of  himself.  Thus  his  thought  is 
corrupted,  and  he  sees  what  is  7iot  instead  of  what  is, 
and  this  results  in  an  activity  of  the  will,  which  is  in 


22 


A STUD  Y OF  DANTE. 


supreme  contradiction  of  his  ideal  nature,  and  in 
supreme  violation  of  all  his  fundamental  relation- 
ships. There  can  be  no  perversion  of  the  intellect 
and  will  which  does  not  imply  a logically  prior  per- 
version of  the  feelings — no  stage  of  conscious  and 
deliberate  sin  without  an  antecedent  stage  in  which 
the  sympathies  have  become  alienated  from  God. 

It  is  therefore  with  profound  intention  that  Dante 
places  in  the  outermost  circles  of  the  ‘‘  Inferno,'' 
sinners  in  the  unconscious  stage  of  alienated  love. 
This  alienation  of  feeling  is  discerned  by  him  as  the 
logical  condition  of  the  deeper  degrees  of  sin  to  be 
punished  in  the  lower  hell.  Nor  does  the  poet  leave 
us  to  abstract  his  theory  from  the  content  of  the 
poem,  but,  in  the  seventeenth  canto  of  the  Purga- 
torio,"  he  himself  traces  all  sin  to  the  excess,  de- 
fect, or  perversion  of  love."  Man  has  an  infinite 
power  of  loving.  Infinite  love  demands  an  infinite 
object.  If  man  loves  God  supremely,  he  will  love  all 
other  objects  in  right  degree.  If  he  is  slack  in  his 
love  of  God,  he  will  love  unduly  self  and  finite 
objects.  The  excessive  love  of  finite  objects  giving 
birth  to  struggle  for  their  possession,  changes  into 
hate  the  love  man  should  bear  to  his  fellow.  Such 
is  the  genesis  of  the  seven  capital  sins.  Sloth  is  the 
slack  love  of  God  ; lust,  gluttony,  and  covetousness, 
are  the  excessive  love  of  finite  objects ; pride  is  the 


INFERNO. 


23 


distorted  love  of  self  ; and  envy  and  anger  are  dis- 
tortions of  the  love  which  should  exist  between  man 
and  man.  Viewed  from  the  standpoint  that  duties 
arise  out  of  relationships,  lust  is  rebellion  against  the 
ideal  of  man  in  his  relationship  to  the  family;  gluttony 
is  perversion  of  the  relationship  between  soul  and 
body ; covetousness,  envy,  and  anger,  are  practical 
denials  of  the  relationship  of  the  individual  to  the 
social  whole  ; and  pride  is  the  supreme  negation  of 
man’s  relationship  to  God.  Conceived  as  a develop- 
ing process,  sin  begins  in  the  slackening  of  love  to 
God,  and  culminates  in  the  supreme  love  of  self. 
Hence,  sloth  is  the  first  sin  found  within  the  In- 
ferno,” and  spiritual  pride  is  punished  in  its  lowest 
depth.  Conversely,  pride  is  the  first  sin  expiated  in 
Purgatory,  because,  until  the  self  ceases  to  be  su- 
preme, there  can  be  no  return  of  the  soul  unto  God. 

The  first  blessing  of  the  Saviour  of  men  is  be- 
stowed upon  the  poor  in  spirit.  Humble  receptivity 
is  the  condition  of  spiritual  growth.  The  first  mark 
of  humility  is,  that  it  mourns  its  own  defect  ; the 
second  is  the  meekness  which  bears  lovingly  defect 
in  others.  Out  of  the  recognition  of  lack  is  born 
that  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness  which  is 
the  panting  of  the  soul  for  its  God,  and  mercy  is  the 
living  sign  of  the  indwelling  life  of  God.  To  have 
God’s  life  dwelling  within  us  is  to  be  like  God,  and 


24 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE, 


hence  able  to  see  God  ; and  as  God  is  Love,  and  Love 
is  recognition  and  reconciliation,  the  vision  of  God 
makes  the  pure  in  heart  the  peacemakers  of  the  world. 

The  atmosphere  in  the  circles  of  Incontinence  is 
one  of  simple  darkness,  apt  emblem  of  the  soul 
whose  light  is  darkened  and  at  last  extinguished  by 
passion.  The  total  darkening  of  the  powers  of  the 
soul  is  the  signal  for  the  lighting  of  the  flames  of 
hell — symbols  of  a consciousness  which  through  its 
own  act  has  fixed  itself  in  a state  of  permanent  self- 
contradiction. 

Dante's  description  of  the  transition  from  the 
circle  of  the  Angry  to  the  sixth  circle,  which  is  that 
of  the  Heresiarchs,  is  most  vivid.  In  my  ears  a la- 
mentation smote  me,  whereat  I bent  my  eyes  intently 
forward.  And  the  kind  master  said  : ^ Now,  son, 

the  city  that  is  named  of  Dis  draweth  nigh,  with  the 
heavy  citizens,  with  the  great  company — ' 

“ And  I : ‘ Master,  already  I discern  its  mosques, 
distinctly  there  within  the  valley,  red  as  if  they  had 
come  out  of  a fire.' 

‘‘And  to  me  he  said  : ‘ The  eternal  fire  that  inward 
burns  them  shows  them  red  as  thou  seest  in  this  low 
hell.' 

“ And  I : ‘ Master,  what  are  those  people,  who, 
buried  within  those  chests,  make  themselves  heard 
by  their  painful  sighs  ? ' 


INFERNO, 


25 


And  he  to  me : ‘ These  are  the  arch-heretics 
with  their  followers  of  every  sect ; and  much  more 
than  thou  thinkest  the  tombs  are  laden.  Like  with 
like  is  buried  here  ; and  the  monuments  are  more 
and  less  hot.'  ” 

n the  sins  in  the  circles  of  Incontinence  may  be 
traced  to  the  supremacy  of  self  in  the  emotions, 
heresy  may  be  defined  as  the  manifestations  of  self- 
love  in  the  intellect.  Without  an  undue  love  of  self 
a man  cannot  become  a heretic.  The  perversion  of 
thought  is  a direct  outcome  of  a perverted  state  of 
feeling.  It  is  the  recognition  and  assertion  by  the 
intellect  of  the  distorted  universe  created  out  of 
sinful  emotion.  The  man  who  persistently  yields 
to  his  fleshly  appetite  must  ultimately  lose  faith  in 
his  own  higher  powers.  The  man  who  lives  only  for 
the  moment  practically  denies  his  immortality,  and 
from  the  practical  to  the  theoretic  denial  there  is  but 
a step.  The  man  who  acts  as  though  God  were  not 
is  travelling  the  high-road  toward  Atheism. 

The  important  point  to  be  noticed  in  this  connec- 
tion is,  that  because  heresy  is  an  outcome  of  sinful 
feeling  it  has  in  itself  a sinful  character.  It  is  im- 
possible to  divorce  what  a man  thinks  from  what  he^ 
is,  and  it  is  because  we  have  illogically  asserted  this 
separation  that  we  have  become  as  careless  and  inert 
in  our  own  jAought  as  we  are  lazily  tolerant  of  the 


26 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE. 


thou^ht^a£-etfeei^.  Starting  with  the  assumption 
that  it  makes  no  difference  what  we  believe,  we  have 
come  to  believe  in  nothing.  Ignoring  our  responsi- 
bilities, we  have  drifted  into  doubt  of  our  power. 
The  saddest  sight  in  a sad  world  is  this  universal 
spectacle,  of  minds  enslaved  by  their  own  ignorance 
and  paralyzed  by  their  own  inactivity.  The  one 
thing  in  life  which  to  the  aroused  soul  seems  worth 
doing,  is,  to  waken  other  souls  from  their  death-like 
sleep  ; and  the  wail  of  prophet  and  poet,  of  saint  and 
Saviour  is,  that  the  eyes  of  mankind  are  blind,  and 
their  ears  are  waxed  deaf. 

The  circle  of  the  Heresiarchs  is  the  transition  from 
the  sins  of  feeling  to  the  sins  of  conscious  will.  To 
love  self  more  than  God  is  the  sin  of  feeling.  To 
see  self  instead  of  God  is  the  sin  of  intellect.  To  cre- 
ate a world  like  the  false  self  thus  seen  is  the  sin  of 
the  conscious  will.  Throughout  all  the  spheres  of 
sin,  the  common  element  is  the  abstraction  of  the 
individual  from  his  relationships.  Lust  is  this  ab- 
straction in  the  region  of  feeling.  Pride  is  this 
abstraction  in  the  sphere  of  intelligence.  Therefore 
the  theologians  teach  that  lust  is  the  pride  of  the 
body,  and  pride  is  the  lust  of  the  soul ; and  Dante 
stigmatizes  the  rebellion  of  Lucifer  as  a proud 
adultery.''  Finally,  covetousness  is  abstract  indi- 
vidualism in  its  relationship  to  material  things  ; man 


INFERNO. 


27 


wanting  all  for  himself  refuses  to  recognize  the  equal 
claim  of  others  to  the  good  things  of  the  earth.  In 
the  very  first  canto  of  the  ''  Inferno/'  Dante  is  con- 
fronted by  these  sins  in  the  forms  of  the  leopard,  the 
lion,  and  the  she-wolf  ; and  the  other  so-called  car- 
dinal sins,  as  well  as  the  deeper  wrongs  which  arise 
from  their  combination,  are  by  him  always  traced 
directly  to  these  fruitful  germs. 

In  the  circle  of  the  Violent  is  shown  man’s  con- 
scious attempt  to  realize  his  abstract  individualism 
as  against  his  neighbor,  against  himself,  and  against 
his  God. 

The  violent  against  man  are  divided  into  two 
classes  : those  who  attack  life,  and  those  who  attack 
property  ; and  these  two  forms  of  violence  are  traced 
to  their  roots  in  anger  and  covetousness.  Fix  thy 
eyes  upon  the  valley,”  cries  Virgil  to  his  follower, 

for  the  river  of  blood  draweth  nigh,  in  which  boils 
every  one  who  by  violence  injures  others.  O blind 
cupidity  ! O foolish  anger ^ which  so  incites  us  in  the 
short  life,  and  then  in  the  eternal,  steeps  us  so 
bitterly.” 

In  the  second  division  of  the  circle  of  the  Violent 
are  found  sinners  who  have  done  to  themselves  what 
those  in  the  first  division  did  to  their  neighbors,  i,  e., 
they  have  wasted  their  own  substance  and  taken 
their  own  lives.  That  prodigality  is  covetousness 


28  A STUDY  OF  DANTE. 


turned  against  self  has  been  already  shown,  and  that 
suicide  is  the  outcome  of  that  pride  whose  first  de- 
gree is  spiritual  sloth  grows  evident  as  we  read  the 
graphic  recital  of  the  fierce  soul  which,  in  its  dis- 
dainful mood,  thought  to  escape  disdain  by  death. 

The  sins  punished  in  the  third  division  of  the 
circle  of  the  Violent  are  even  more  obviously  tracea- 
ble to  pride,  lust,  and  covetousness.  Supine  upon 
the  burning  sand,  Capaneus  shows  us  that  his  pride 
is  still  unquenched  ; while  Jacopo  Rusticucci  and  the 
unrecognizable  usurers  reveal  to  us,  without  need  of 
comment,  the  genesis  of  their  respective  sins. 

In  order  that  we  may  rightly  apprehend  the  nature 
of  the  sins  of  violence  as  well  as  those  of  treachery 
and  fraud,  we  must  have  a clear  idea  of  the  relation- 
ship of  will  to  feeling  and  thought.  Will  is  that 
phase  of  the  mind  which  objectifies — it  is  the  con- 
crete unity  of  feeling  and  thought — that  which  at 
once  creates  and  recognizes  its  image.  The  corrup- 
tion of  the  will  is  the  corruption  of  man’s  total 
nature,  and  its  result  must  be  negative  to  that  activity 
and  communion  which  we  have  throughout  recog- 
nized as  the  marks  of  the  Divine,  Relatively  to 
society,  it  is  the  reduction  of  man  to  the  abstract 
savagism  of  the  Cyclops,  who  neither  planted  nor 
ploughed,  who  had  no  laws  and  met  in  no  councils, 
who  dwelt  alone  in  vaulted  caves  on  mountain 


INFERNO, 


29 


heights,  and  each  man,  holding  no  converse  with 
others,  devised  apart  his  wicked  deeds/’  Relatively 
to  the  individual,  it  is  his  reduction  to  the  condition 
of  Lucifer,  a condition  of  ignorance,  impotence,  and 
absolute  loneliness.  He  may  flap  his  bat-like  wings, 
but  the  only  result  of  this  vain  activity  is  to  fix  him 
more  firmly  in  his  ice. 

In  external  correspondence  to  the  total  corruption 
of  the  soul,  in  the  circle  of  Fraud  pestilence  is  added 
to  darkness  and  flame.  Here  all  the  senses  are  as- 
sailed ; the  sight  by  murky  air ; the  ear  by  lamen- 
tations ‘ that  have  arrows  shod  with  pity  ’ ; the 
smell  by  stench  of  putrid  limbs ; the  touch  by  hide- 
ous scurf ; and  the  taste  by  thirst  that  craves  one 
little  drop  of  water.”  And  as  we  are  repelled  by 
these  symbols  of  sin,  so  our  souls  are  repelled  from 
the  panders  and  flatterers — the  simonists,  sorcerers, 
and  peculators ; the  hypocrites,  thieves,  evil  counsel- 
lors, schismatics,  and  falsifiers,  who  inhabit  Male- 
bolge.  We  find  it  hard  to  analyze  their  conscious- 
ness, for  where  corruption  has  become  universal  the 
distinctions  of  sin  are  lost.  The  root  of  theft,  for 
instance,  is  certainly  covetousness,  but  before  covet- 
ousness issues  in  theft  it  has  allied  itself  with  all  the 
other  cardinal  sins.  The  poison  of  sin  has  so  spread 
within  the  soul  that  there  can  be  left  in  it  no  power 
of  normal  action.  Hence  Virgil  blames  Dante  when 


30 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE. 


he  weeps  over  the  sorcerers,  exclaiming  : Art  thou 

too  like  the  other  fools  ? Who  more  impious  than 
he  that  sorrows  at  God’s  judgment  ? ” 

The  imagery  of  the  last  circle  of  the  '^Inferno” 
forcibly  suggests  the  self-destruction  which  is  fhe 
final  outcome  of  selfishness.  Lust  has  conceived 
and  brought  for^sin,  and  sin  being  finished  brings 

forth  death. ^Out  of  the  sphere  of  darkness  into  the 

sphere  of  fire — out  of  the  region  of  fire  into  a region 
of  fire  and  blood — out  of  this  into  the  loathsome  pit 
of  fraud,  where  pestilence  is  added  to  the  darkness 
and  the  flame,  and  finally  down  from  the  pit  of  fraud 
towards  frozen  Cocytus,  wherein  are  fixed  the  spirits 
of  those  who  have  committed  the  supreme  sin  of 
treachery. 

Formed  by  the  union  of  all  the  rivers  of  Hell, 
Cocytus  stagnates  because  there  is  no  lower  depth 
towards  which  it  can  flow.  Upon  its  frozen  surface 
stand  the  giants.  Nimrod,  a dull  and  confused 
spirit,  speaks  a language  no  man  can  understand, 
and  all  other  languages  are  incomprehensible  to 
him.  Ephialtes  has  his  right  arm  pinioned  down 
behind  and  the  other  before,  and  a chain  holds  him 
clasped  from  the  neck  downwards.”  The  sinners, 
immovable  in  the  ice,  have  power  only  to  weep,  and 
as  the  tears  gush  from  their  lids  they  freeze,  and  this 
closes  their  eyes.  The  only  other  activities  men- 


INFERNO, 


31 

tioned  are  butting,  champing  of  the  teeth,  and  the 
flapping  of  Lucifer's  wings,  which  makes  the  winds 
that  freeze  Cocytus. 

Sin  has  done  its  work  ! Made  for  combination^ 
with  his  fellows,  each  man  throu^h^iyn  has  isolated 
himself  from  all  others.  Made  for  activity,  he  has 
lost  all  Jjower  to  act.  The ^dulgence,  the  assertion, 
and  the  con-ujptioji  of  self,  have  issued  in_selL 
destruction.^  Lo  Dis,  and  lo  the  place  where  it  be- 
hooves us  arm  ourselves  with  fortitude." 

It  may  be  asked  : If  this  view  of  sin  be  true,  what 
hope  can  there  be  for  sinful  man?  If  the  iogrcal 
movement  of  sin  is  not  towards  good  but  towards 
greater  evil,  how  can  the  effect  of  even  a single  sin 
be  undone  ? The  answer  to  this  question  we  shall 
find  in  the  study  of  the  “ Purgatorio."  Meanwhile 
let  us  carry  from  the  Inferno  " the  assurance  that 
not  until  the  Ethiopian  changes  his  skin  and  the 
leopard  his  spots  can  he  do  good  that  is  accustomed 
to  do  evil. 


PURGATORIO. 


The  theme  of  Dante’s  Purgatorio  ” is  the  purifi- 
cation  of  the  soul.  It  describes  not  a place,  but  a 
process  ; not  a future  possibility,  but  an  ever-present 
reality.  It  represents  the  eternal  transition  from 
evil  to  good,  and  all  struggling  souls  may  find  in  it  a 
reflection  of  their  conflict  and  a sure  prophecy  of 
their  final  victory.  Wherever  there  is  spiritual  de- 
velopment, there  is  Purgatory. 

The  theory  of  the  poem  is  that  goodness  is  not  a 
dower,  but  an  achievement.  This  second  kingdom 
is  one  in  which  by  effort  the  human  spirit  doth 
purge  itself.”  Man  is  a worm  born  to  bring  forth 
the  angelic  butterfly.”  Paradise  is  at  the  top  of  a 
precipitous  mountain.  The  climbing  in  the  begin- 
ning is  tiresome  and  painful,  but  aye  the  more 
one  climbs  the  less  it  hurts.”  There  is  nowhere  in 
the  poem  a trace  of  the  heresy  which  confounds 
what  man  is  with  what  he  may  become,  and  which 
paralyzes  * effort  by  ignoring  the  significance  of 
choice. 

The  sin  which  must  be  overcome  is  described  vari- 
32 


PURGATORIO. 


33 


ously  as  mist,  slough,  scum,  blindness,  and  smoke, 
and  as  paralysis,  langor,  malady,  weight,  crookedness, 
and  knot.  As  mist,  slough,  scum,  blindness,  and 
smoke,  it  is  that  which  prevents  us  from  seeing  the 
true ; as  langor,  weight,  malady,  and  paralysis,  it 
is  that  which  impedes  our  pursuit  of  the  good ; as 
crookedness  and  knot,  it  represents  the  deed 
which  must  be  undone  before  there  can  be  any  right 
doing. 

The  source  of  all  goodness  is  God.  Man  becomes 
good  by  opening  his  heart  to  receive  the  stream  of 
influence  always  pouring  towards  him  from  God. 
Holiness  is  not  an  evolution,  but  a revealed  and 
communicated  life.  Sin  in  its  last  analysis  is  the 
substitution  of  self  for  God ; the  assertion  of  an  ab- 
stract individualism  as  against  a universal  life ; the 
futile  effort  of  a withering  branch  to  maintain  its  be- 
ing apart  from  the  vine  to  which  it  properly  belongs. 
In  the  fifteenth  canto  of  the  ‘^Purgatory''  Dante 
sets  forth  this  view  with  great  clearness,  explaining 
that  the  goodness,  infinite  and  ineffable,  which  is 
above,  ^‘always  gives  of  itself  so  much  as  it  finds 
ardor.”  In  the  Convito  ” he  illustrates  the  same 
truth  by  suggesting  how  differently  the  light  of  the 
sun  is  received  by  the  dull  clod  of  earth,  by  pure 
gold,  by  precious  stones  which  refract  its  rainbow- 
colors,  and  by  the  mirror  through  which  it  is  con- 


34 


A STUB  Y OF  DANTE. 


centrated  into  a burning-point.  Finally,  in  the 
Paradiso  ''  he  again  repeats  that  the  brightness  is 
proportioned  to  the  ardor,  the  ardor  to  the  vision.’’ 
In  this  view  of  the  relationship  of  the  soul  to  God 
is  grounded  the  true  conception  of  human  freedom. 
Man  is  free  when  he  knows,  loves,  and  wills  the 
good.  Until  then  his  freedom  is  ideal,  not  actual — 
something  he  may  conquer  but  does  not  possess. 
He  wins  liberty  by  renouncing  caprice ; or,  in  other 
words,  achieves  selfhood  by  crucifying  self.  He  be- 
comes a freedman  of  the  universe  only  by  a self- 
emancipation from  the  slavery  of  ignorance  and  sin. 
Hence  Virgil  introduces  Dante  to  the  stern  warden 
of  Purgatory  as  one  who  is  seeking  liberty.  Statius 
declares  that  only  after  five  hundred  years  of  pain 
has  he  felt  a free  volition  for  a better  seat.”  Not 
until  he  is  near  the  summit  of  the  purgatorial  mount 
does  Dante  feel  for  flight  within  him  the  pinions 
growing,”  and  it  is  when  they  stand  upon  the  top- 
most step  of  the  long  stairway  that  Virgil  declares 
to  him, 

“ Free  and  upright  and  sound  is  thy  free-will, 

And  error  were  it  not  to  do  its  bidding  : 

Thee  o’er  thyself  I therefore  crown  and  mitre.” 

Man  rises  above  choice  through  long  exercise  in 
right  choosing.  Holiness  becomes  an  impulse  only 
when  it  has  long  been  a habit.  Spontaneity  in  good- 


PURGATORIO, 


35 


ness  is  the  final  triumph  of  persistent  and  painful 
conflict  with  besetting  sin. 

The  coin  fresh  from  the  mint  of  thought  shows 
clearly  its  character  and  value.  Circulation  dims  its 
lustre,  wears  away  its  substance,  and  blunts  its  edge. 
We  pass  it  from  hand  to  hand,  careless  of  its  lessen- 
ing weight,  and  not  even  glancing  at  its  fading 
image  and  superscription.  Familiarity  with  a truth 
is  generally  in  inverse  proportion  to  its  comprehen- 
sion, and  in  the  end  there  comes  a time  when  men 
know  it  so  well  that  they  cease  to  think  it. 

Such  has  been  in  our  day  the  fate  of  the  truth 
which  declares  the  relationship  of  each  individual  life 
to  the  life  of  God.  As  a real  thought  it  seems  to 
have  almost  died  out  of  the  minds  of  men.  From  a 
quickening  principle  it  has  shrunk  into  a formula ; 
from  a burning  conviction  it  has  faded  into  a senti- 
ment, and  we  are  now  admonished  that  we  assail  its 
sanctity  when  we  try  to  think  it.  Such  admonition 
ignores  the  fact  that  thought  conditions  feeling  by 
supplying  the  object  which  feeling  demands.  Even 
in  the  animal  it  is  vision  which  arouses  desire,  as  it  is 
desire  which  stimulates  to  act.  Thought,  feeling, 
and  will  are  not  independent,  but  each  lives  in  and 
through  the  others.  If  we  do  not  see  how  God's 
grace  is  poured  out  upon  us,  we  shall  soon  cease  to 
feel  the  outpouring. 


36 


A STUD  Y OF  JDANTE, 


To  really  re-think  our  relationship  to  God  we 
must  consciously  expand  our  faith  in  revelation.  A 
living  God  is  acting  on  our  living  souls.  He  has  not 
once  spoken  and  then  forever  relapsed  into  silence. 
He  has  not  once  shone  on  the  world  and  left  to  it 
only  this  remembered  light.  Day  by  day  He  is 
shining  to  our  eyes  and  speaking  to  our  hearts.  The 
infinite  universe  is  His  self-revelation,  and  by  its  re- 
action defines  to  us  His  perfection  and  our  defects. 

In  the  scientific  doctrine  of  modification  through 
environment  we  have  the  beginning  of  a true  thought 
of  relationship  to  God.  To  complete  it  we  need 
only  recognize  that  environment  is  spiritual  as  well 
as  physical,  and  that  it  is  not  fixed  but  infinitely  ex- 
pansive. In  a word,  it  stands  for  the  totality  of 
influence  bearing  upon  the  individual  object,  and  it 
has  the  beneficent  quality  of  widening  and  deepening 
to  meet  increasing  need.  In  it  resides  the  fulness  by 
appropriating  which  the  individual  develops.  Evo- 
lution, therefore,  truly  conceived,  is  not  the  thought 
of  a less  by  its  own  inherent  power  becoming  a 
greater,  but  the  far  deeper  thought  of  actual  nothing- 
ness lifted  into  being  by  the  communication  of  life. 

By  the  rewards  and  penalties  of  nature  man 
learns  physical  laws,  and  through  the  reaction  of  or- 
ganized humanity  upon  the  individual  is  developed 
the  sense  of  moral  law  or  the  ideal  of  duty.  All 


FURGATORIO. 


37 


spiritual  development  is  grounded  in  man's  existence 
in  the  species.  Culture  is  the  process  through  which 
the  individual  reproduces  within  himself  the  experi- 
ence of  the  race.  Its  goal  is  the  complete  realiza- 
tion of  the  species  within  the  individual,  and  its 
essential  condition  such  an  attitude  of  man  as  shall 
render  him  accessible  to  the  influence  of  mankind. 
This  insight  enable  us  to  define  goodness  as  perfect 
self-activity,  realized  in  the  perfect  communion  of 
each  man  with  all  men.  Communion  must  be  per- 
fect in  order  that  experience  may  be  shared,  activity 
must  be  complete  in  order  that  it  may  be  repro- 
duced. Hence,  in  sloth  and  selfish  exclusion  may  be 
found  the  seeds  of  every  vice.  Still  deeper  con- 
sideration reveals  sloth  as  the  paralysis  resulting 
from  self-exclusion,  and  thus  reduces  the  infinite 
variety  of  the  poisonous  growths  of  sin  to  the  single 
fatal  germ  of  spiritual  pride. 

We  hide  from  ourselves  the  reality  of  God's  action 
on  our  souls  by  blinding  our  eyes  to  the  truth  of 
mediation.  We  practically  forget  that,  though  the 
source  of  inspiration  is  the  Divine  Spirit,  its  instru- 
ments are  men,  and  its  organ  is  the  Church.  What 
truth  do  we  know  to-day  which  has  not  been  declared 
to  us  by  the  voice  of  man  ? What  man  who  has 
declared  truth  has  not  proclaimed  that  to  him  it  was 
given  by  inspiration  of  the  Spirit  ? The  Spirit  is  the 


38 


A STUD  Y OF  FAJVTE, 


indwelling  life  of  that  great  Church  which,  in  the 
profoundest  sense,  is  the  “ Mother  of  the  Soul/’  and 
this  Church  is  organized  humanity,  ever  revealing  to 
individual  man  the  divine  ideal  which,  as  soon  as 
recognized,  he  identifies  with  his  own  deepest  self. 
Because  there  is  One  Spirit  in  all  men,  man  can  com- 
bine with  man  ; because  this  Spirit  is  divine  there  is 
the  possibility  of  communion  with  God. 

Instruments  of  grace  ” are  the  mighty  institutions 
which,  revealing  and  enforcing  ideal  standards,  en- 
able the  individual  to  measure  his  own  defect  and 
inspire  him  to  overcome  it ; a store-house  of  grace” 
is  that  great  deposit  of  faith,”  the  true  litera- 
ture of  the  world ; a means  of  grace  ” is  every 
work  of  art  in  which  is  incarnate  a spiritual  truth ; 
‘‘  channels  of  grace  ” are  all  honest  experiences  of 
sorrow  or  joy ; ministers  of  grace  ” are  the  strong 
thinkers  who  redeem  our  feeble  thought — the  heroes 
who  spur  our  languid  wills  and  the  saints  whose  ardor 
fans  into  fresh  flame  the  dying  embers  of  our  devo- 
tion. The  revelation  is  manifold  and  yet  one  ; the 
inspiration  from  of  old  and  yet  ever  new  ; the  grace 
thus  variously  bestowed  (as  the  old  theologians  truly 
taught)  prevenient,  co-operant,  and  illuminant — for 
it  comes  to  us  before  we  seek  it — it  fortifies  our 
feeblest  endeavor,  and  crowns  our  persevering  strug- 
gle with  the  beatific  vision  of  final  truth. 


FURGATORIO. 


39 


Only  with  this  thought  of  universal  mediation 
in  our  minds  can  we  understand  the  symbolism  of 
Dante  throughout  the  Purgatory/’  Virgil,  his 
Guide,  personifying  human  reason,  describes  himself 
as  an  instrument  of  Grace.  ‘‘  I came  not  of  my- 
self,” he  declares,  but  a Lady  from  heaven  de- 
scended, at  whose  prayer  I aided  this  one  with  my 
company.”  Purgatory  has  a warden,  for  defect  de- 
mands guidance,  and  laggard  spirits  must  be  spurred 
to  run  toward  the  purifying  mount.  When  night 
falls  and  danger  threatens,  angels  descend  to  guard 
the  praying  shades.  By  the  divine  Lucia,  Dante  is 
borne  in  his  sleep  to  the  presence  of  the  angel  who 
guards  the  gate  of  Purgatory.  Only  at  the  entreaty 
of  the  three  celestial  Virtues  does  Beatrice  turn  upon 
the  poet  her  holy  eyes  and  unveil  to  him  the  beauty 
of  her  face,  and  only  as  reflected  in  her  eyes  ” can 
he  behold  the  mystic  Griffin  shining,  ‘‘  now  with 
the  one  now  with  the  other  nature.”  Throughout 
the  sevenfold  realm  mediation  is  the  central  truth 
recognized  by  the  repentant  Spirits.  Make  known 
my  state  to  my  good  Costanza,  for  those  on  earth 
can  much  advance  us  here.”  Tell  my  Giovanna 
that  she  pray  for  me.”  I pray  thee  to  pray  for  me 
when  thou  shalt  be  above.”  Thus  speedily  has  led 
me  to  drink  of  the  feweet  wormwood  of  these  tor- 
ments my  Nella  with  her  overflowing  tears.”  Such 


40 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE, 


are  the  petitions  and  such  the  acknowledgments  of 
the  soul  who,  as  Dante  himself  tells  us, 

“ Only  pray  that  some  one  else  may  pray, 

So  as  to  hasten  their  becoming  holy.’^ 

Prayer  is  the  expression  of  spiritual  life.  The 
more  spiritual  life  there  is  in  the  world,  the  more 
swiftly  is  the  individual  borne  forward  on  its  strong 
currents.  The  more  people  there  are  who  love  well, 
says  our  poet,  the  more  can  each  one  love,  for  as  a 
mirror  the  one  reflects  the  other.'’  Conversely  the 
good  of  one  is  the  good  of  all,  and  hence  when  a 
single  soul  in  Purgatory  has  prevailed  over  its  sin  the 
whole  mountain  shakes  with  joy  and  rings  with  a 
psalm  of  thanksgiving. 

Having  restored  ourselves  to  participation  in 
Dante's  vitalizing  thought,  that  man  achieves  good- 
ness by  appropriation  of  the  divine  life  which  is 
always  offering  itself  to  him,  we  may  follow  him  in 
his  journey  through  the  realm  of  purification.  This 
realm  is  figured  as  ‘‘  the  hill  which  highest  toward 
the  heavens  uplifts  itself."  It  rises  from  an  island, 
and  its  base  forms  an  Ante-Purgatory  where  souls 
are  detained  until  they  have  atoned  for  delay  in 
repentance.  Around  the  mount  of  Purgatory  proper 
run  seven  terraces  whereon  are  punished  the  seven 
deadly  sins.  Stairways  rough  and  steep  lead  up 
from  terrace  to  terrace,  and  upon  the  summit  of  the 


FURGATORIO, 


41 


mountain  is  the  Earthly  Paradise.  Around  the  shore 
of  the  island  grow  the  rushes,  which  symbolize 
humility,  because  they  alone  of  plants  yield  to  the 
shock  of  waves.  With  them  must  Dante  be  girt  be- 
fore he  can  enter  Purgatory.  The  cord  of  humility 
must  take  the  place  6f  that  cord  of  mere  human 
strength  with  which  h^  had  once  thought  to  catch 
the  leopard  of  the  painted  skin,'’  and  which  in  his 
journey  through  the  Inferno  he  had  resolutely  cast 
into  the  pit  of  fraud.  Proud  self-confidence,  by  ex- 
cluding the  soul  from  influence,  paralyzes  its  powers, 
while  humility,  which  makes  man  teachable,  is  the 
antecedent  condition  of  all  mental  and  spiritual 
growth. 

The  changed  attitude  of  the  soul  is  the  significant 
distinction  between  the  Purgatory  and  the  Inferno. 
The  spiritual  universe  is  always  the  same,  but  it  is 
differently  reflected  in  the  mirror  of  individual  con- 
sciousness. The  soul  steeped  in  sin  has  become  a 
distorting  mirror  which  gives  back  love  as  hate,  and 
heaven  as  hell.  Each  denizen  of  the  Inferno  might 
echo  the  despairing  cry  which  Milton  puts  into  the 
mouth  of  Lucifer  : What  matter  where,  if  I be  still 

the  same  ? ” The  consciousness  of  the  penitents  in 
Purgatory  is  a mirror  which  reflects  truly  but  feebly 
— a glass  over  which  there  is  a mist  which  must  be 
removed.  The  repentant  spirit  knows  its  own  sin, 


42 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE. 


but  at  first  defines  goodness  negatively  as  simply  the 
opposite  of  itself.  In  the  recoil  of  pain  it  recognizes 
the  antagonism  of  its  evil  deed  to  the  spiritual  whole 
and  resolves  on  amendment ; but  the  true  spiritual 
ideal  hovers  before  it  dimly,  being  obscured  by  the 
clouds  and  smoke  of  its  own  sinful  passions.  There 
is,  in  a word,  still  indwelling  sin,  but  there  is  no 
longer  a consent  of  the  will  to  sin. 

How  the  change  is  brought  about,  who  can  say? 
Not  through  sinning,  for  sin  is  refusal  to  learn  the 
lesson  which  grace  is  teaching  through  the  ministry 
of  pain.  To  me  it  seems  that  each  soul  should 
tremble  in  mingled  rapture  and  fear  before  its  own 
blessed  and  yet  so  often  fatal  power  of  choice. 
Grace  may  constrain,  but  it  cannot  coerce.  Love 
may  appeal,  but  it  cannot  compel.  Two  things  are 
sure : Against  his  own  will  and  without  his  own 
effort  no  man  can  be  made  holy  or  wise  : to  in- 
fluence his  will  nothing  will  be  left  untried.  How 
will  the  struggle  end  ? I do  not  know.  May  man 
forever  defy  influence  ? I cannot  tell.  What  I do 
know  is  that  every  committed  sin  sinks  the  soul  into 
deeper  darkness — fires  it  with  more  burning  an- 
tagonism— freezes  it  in  a more  stagnant  isolation. 
Sin  is  a help  never,  a hindrance  always,  to  the  prog- 
ress of  the  spirit. 

As  the  poets  stand  among  the  bending  rushes  on 


PURGATORIO, 


43 


the  island  shore,  there  arrives  a boat  steered  by  an 
angel  and  bearing  souls  to  Purgatory.  In  contrast 
to  the  blasphemies  of  the  spirits  who  assemble  on 
the  joyless  banks  of  Acheron,’'  these  shades  are 
chanting  the  great  psalm  which,  under  the  veil  of  the 
deliverance  of  Israel  from  Egypt,  declares  the  deliv- 
erance of  the  soul  from  sin.  Not  unto  us,  O Lord  ! 
not  to  us,  but  to  thy  name  give  glory,”  is  the  refrain, 
and  hope  in  the  Lord,”  the  burden  of  the  song. 
Sin  projects  internal  limit  as  external  fate,  and  curses 
not  itself,  but  God  and  the  human  race.”  Repent- 
ance sees  that  evil  lies  not  in  the  universe  but  in 
self,  and  thus  converts  even  the  inward  limit  into 
vanishing  defect.  With  the  sense  that  we  are  slaves 
who  may  achieve  freedom,  emancipation  has  begun. 
What  matters  present  ignorance  to  the  heir  of  all 
knowledge  ? In  foretaste  of  the  joy  which  shall 
come  with  the  morning,  what  becomes  of  the  sorrow 
of  the  night  ? 

Traversing  the  region  of  Ante-Purgatory,  the  poets 
meet  four  classes  of  penitents  whose  common  char- 
acteristic is  that  they  have  deferred  repentance  until 
the  end  of  life.  The  differences  between  them  are 
very  suggestive.  The  first  throng  seem  to  be  moving 
their  feet  and  yet  seem  not  to  move  forward,  thus 
suggesting  effort  without  advance.  These  souls 
have  died  in  contumacy  of  Holy  Church,”  and  are 


44 


A STUB  Y OF  BAJVTF. 


condemned  to  wait  outside  the  bank  thirty  times 
told  the  time  that  they  have  been  in  their  presump- 
tion.’' The  spirits  of  the  second  class  stand  listlessly 
in  a shade  behind  a rock,  and  Belacqua,  who  is  their 
typical  representative,  sits  embracing  his  knees, 
holding  his  face  down  low  between  them,  and  shows 
himself  more  careless  than  if  Sloth  herself  his  sister 
were.”  These  are  the  simple  procrastinators,  and 
their  condemnation  is  to  remain  outside  the  gate  of 
Purgatory  for  a time  as  long  as  the  time  of  their 
procrastination.  The  third  throng  are  moving  slowly 
forward  and  singing  the  Miserere,  These  are  they 
who  have  been  slain  by  violence,  but,  admonished 
by  a light  from  heaven,  repented  at  the  last  hour, 
and,  ''  both  penitent  and  pardoning,”  issued  from 
life,  reconciled  to  God.  The  fourth  class  embraces 
kings  and  princes  who  deferred  repentance  through 
the  pressure  of  temporal  cares.  It  is  near  sunset 
when  the  poets  come  upon  them  in  a valley  bright 
with  grass  and  flowers,  and  fragrant  with  the  sweet- 
ness of  a thousand  odors.  These  spirits  sing  a song 
of  praise,  and  follow  it  with  a prayer  for  protection 
during  the  rapidly  descending  night. 

We  understand  Dante  just  so  long  as  we  keep 
constantly  in  mind  that  all  his  descriptions  are  ex- 
ternal images  of  spiritual  states.  With  him  sin  is 
not  one  thing  and  penalty  another  external  to  it,  but 


P URGA  TORIO. 


45 


the  inevitable  reaction  of  sin  is  the  penalty  of  sin. 
So  salvation  is  ceasing  to  be  evil  and  becoming 
good.  Ante-Purgatory,  as  a whole,  signifies  that 
initial  phase  in  the  process  of  transition  in  which  the 
soul  simply  turns  away  from  evil.  It  represents  a 
state  of  aspiration  which  has  not  yet  deepened  into 
energy — a sympathy  with  good  which  precedes  its 
ardent  pursuit.  Souls  in  this  state  of  development 
do  not  see  God,  but  are  quickened  by  a desire  to  see 
Him.  The  hovering  ideal  is  not  defined,  but  is  a 
substance  of  things  hoped  for  and  an  evidence  of 
things  not  seen.’’  During  this  part  of  the  journey 
the  one  injunction  of  Virgil  is,  to  be  steadfast  in 
hope,”  and  the  witness  of  the  spirits  is,  that  return 
to  good  is  possible  so  long  as  hope  has  any  thing 
of  green.” 

As  the  progressive  emptying  of  self  is  the  condi- 
tion of  a progressive  recognition  of  the  ideal,  those 
souls  who  are  most  steeped  in  selfishness  have  be- 
fore them  the  longest  and  most  painful  struggle. 
The  four  groups  of  spirits  we  have  just  considered 
typify  four  different  grades  of  character.  The  pre- 
sumptuous pride  which  excludes  itself  from  influence 
condemns  itself  to  movement  in  which  there  is  no 
progress.  The  man  who  will  not  combine  with 
other  men  cannot  advance.  He  who  will  hear  no 
teacher  and  read  no  books  must  remain  in  his  igno- 


46 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE, 


ranee.  He  who  defies  the  laws  and  penalties  of 
society  crystallizes  his  own  defect.  Not  listening  to 
the  voice  of  the  great  spiritual  church,  he  makes 
himself  an  heathen  man  and  a publican.’'  His  is 
the  supreme  violation  because  holiness  is  the  com- 
plete interpenetration  of  the  individual  and  the  uni- 
versal life.  Therefore,  by  every  act  he  retrogrades, 
and  with  profound  insight  the  poet  declares  that  to 
undo  his  deed  will  require  thirty  times  told  the 
time  that  he  has  been  in  his  presumption.” 

For  every  moment  of  slothful  procrastination  man 
pays  the  penalty  of  loss  of  power,  and  persistent  in- 
action must  result  in  paralysis  of  the  will.  He  who 
refuses  to  climb  shall  surely  be  brought  to  ask, 
“What  ’s  the  use  of  climbing?”  Nor  is  inertia 
acknowledged  inertia  overcome.  Only  by  seeking 
the  whip  and  spur  of  active  influence,  and  by  effort 
kept  up  in  spite  of  pain,  can  the  supine  sluggard  lift 
himself — he  who  sits  crouching  rise  to  his  feet,  and 
he  who  stands  listless  begin  a forward  march. 

The  penitents  slain  by  violence  illustrate  a higher 
grade  of  character.  By  the  act  of  pardoning  their 
slayers  they  have  entered  into  the  divine  life  of 
forgiveness.  This  new  light  dawning  within  them 
makes  their  darkness  visible,  and  they  pant  and  pray 
for  the  cleansing  fire  and  the  purifying  stream.  So 
through  care  for  the  welfare  of  their  subjects  the 


PURGATORIO, 


47 


princes  in  the  valley  have  promoted  their  own. 
They  have  achieved  a virtue  which  points  to  its  own 
consummation.  Reaching  down  to  give  help,  they 
have  learned  to  reach  upward  to  receive  it.  The 
true  King  is  himself  a type  and  prophecy  of  the 
King  of  Kings,  and,  by  reflecting  the  divine  ideal,  he 
begins  to  aspire  toward  it. 

In  the  Valley  of  the  Princes,  Dante  falls  asleep 
and  dreams  that  an  eagle  with  feathers  of  gold 
swooping  upon  him  snatches  him  upward  to  the  fire. 
Out  of  this  dream  he  wakes  to  find  himself  at  the 
gate  of  Purgatory,  and  is  told  by  Virgil  that  during 
his  sleep  he  was  borne  thither  by  Lucia.  That  the 
dream  is  a shadow  of  coming  events,’’  the  poet 
himself  tells  us,  declaring  that  in  sleep  the  mind 
almost  prophetic  in  its  visions  is  ” — as  in  a related 
passage  he  affirms  that  ‘‘  oftentimes  before  a deed  is 
done  sleep  has  tidings  of  it.” 

In  a valuable  appendix  to  his  translation  of  the 
‘‘  Purgatory,”  Butler  points  out  that  the  eagle  was 
from  the  earliest  Christian  times  an  emblem  of  the 
soul  which  most  aspires  to  meditate  on  divine  things, 
and  as  such  was  adopted  for  the  special  cognizance 
of  St.  John  ; ” and  he  notices  also  that  the  fire  up 
to  which  the  poet  is  borne  is  the  Empyrean  Heaven 
or  abode  of  that  Perfect  Deity  who  alone  perfectly 
sees  and  knows  himself.”  In  plain  words,  the  dream 


48 


A STUD  Y OF  DANTF, 


anticipates  a revelation  of  the  Divine  ideal,  and  im- 
plies that  through  contemplation  of  this  ideal  the 
soul  shall  be  changed  into  its  likeness.  “ Beholding 
as  in  a glass  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  we  are  changed 
into  the  same  image  from  glory  to  glory.” 

The  vision  discerned  is  matched  with  the  momen- 
tum acquired,  for  the  poet  wakes  to  find  himself  be- 
yond the  negative  region  of  Ante-Purgatory,  and  in 
view  of  the  true  entrance  to  the  cleansing  mount. 
Herein  is  mirrored  a universal  fact  of  spiritual  expe- 
rience. How  often  after  what  has  seemed  like  fruitless 
search  for  truth  do  its  premonitions  dawn  upon  the 
mind  apparently  unsought ! How  often  after  a 
moral  struggle  in  which  we  seem  to  be  growing 
worse  instead  of  better  do  we  suddenly  find  our- 
selves transported  to  a region  of  purer  moral  aspira- 
tion ! The  essential  fact  is  the  preceding  struggle. 
Only  he  who  persists  in  moving  his  feet,  even  when 
he  seems  not  to  move  forward,  shall  dream  of  the 
eagle  or  be  borne  upward  by  Lucia.  Grace  can  be- 
stow only  so  much  of  ardor  as  it  finds,”  and  thus, 
though  all  good  is  a gift,  it  is  also  a conquest. 
Yielding  to  passion,  the  unconscious  transition  is  to 
a lower  depth,  as  Dante  swooning  on  the  banks  of 
Acheron  wakes  to  find  himself  upon  the  brink  of 
Hell. 

All  true  representations  of  the  origin  and  progress 


FURGATORIO. 


49 


of  moral  development  have  implied  more  or  less 
clearly  that  only  an  inward  vision  of  the  ideal  con- 
victs of  sin  and  inspires  to  effort.  Whatever  view 
may  be  taken  of  the  history  of  the  Jews,  two  things 
are  certain.  Of  all  ancient  nations  they  had  the 
clearest  consciousness  of  God  and  the  deepest  sense 
of  their  own  sin.  The  total  revelation  of  the  books 
of  Exodus  and  Leviticus  may  be  compressed  into 
the  two  declarations — I am  the  Lord  your  God,'' 
and  Ye  shall  be  holy,  for  I am  holy."  Immedi- 
ately following  this  attained  consciousness  of  truth 
and  duty  come  the  record  of  the  sedition  of  Miriam 
and  Aaron,  the  rebellion  of  Korah,  the  repeated 
murmurings  of  the  whole  people,  the  plague  of  fiery 
serpents,  and  the  elevation  of  the  symbolic  serpent 
of  brass.  Translated  from  figurative  representation 
into  direct  statement,  the  lesson  taught  is  that  the 
vision  of  truth  defines  existing  defect.  Sedition, 
rebellion,  and  complaint  were  not  new  in  the  world  ; 
what  was  new  was  the  sense  of  their  exceeding 
wrong.  Sin  was  in  the  world,"  says  Paul,  before 
the  law,  but  I had  not  known  sin  but  by  the  law." 
The  sting  of  conscience  results  from  perception  of 
what  we  are,  in  the  light  of  what  we  should  be. 

In  accord  with  this  view  of  moral  progress, 
Dante's  dream  of  the  Empyrean  is  followed  by  his 
profound  self-abasement  at  the  gate  of  Purgatory. 


so 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE. 


Three  stairs  lead  up  to  the  gate.  The  first  is  marble 
white,  and  in  it  the  poet  mirrors  himself  as  he  ap- 
pears ” ; the  second  is  dark  and  uneven,  and  cracked 
lengthwise  and  across  ; the  third  is  flaming  red,  as 

blood  that  from  a vein  is  spurting  forth.'’  These 
stairs  symbolize  that  candid  self-recognition  which 
issues  in  heart-broken  sorrow  for  sin  and  ardent  con- 
secration to  God  of  the  life-blood  of  body,  soul, 
and  spirit."  Drawn  over  them  by  Virgil,  the  poet 
prostrates  himself  at  the  feet  of  the  angel,  who 
guards  the  gate  and  whose  gray  robe  symbolizes  the 
“ashes  of  repentance."  He  smites  upon  Dante's 
forehead  with  a sword,  describing  thereon  seven 
“ P's,"  marks  of  the  seven  germinal  sins  which  must 
now  be  purged  from  the  penitent  soul ; plies  the 
lock  first  with  the  silver  key,  “ symbol  of  the  science 
which  discerns  the  true  penitent,"  then  with  the 
golden  key,  “ image  of  absolving  power,"  and  at  last 
pushes  open  the  gate  with  the  significant  exclama- 
tion : 

“ Enter — but  I give  you  warning 
That  forth  returns  whoever  looks  behind.’* 

The  song  of  the  Te  Deum  falls  upon  the  ear, 
and  thus  “ praising  God  and  acknowledging  him 
to  be  the  Lord,"  the  poets  cross  the  boundary-line 
which  separates  regret  from  repentance,  aspiration 
from  energy,  mere  desire  from  consecrated  resolve. 


FURGATORIO. 


51 

In  Purgatory  proper  is  represented  the  gradual 
elimination  of  that  indwelling  sin  against  which  the 
soul  in  Ante-Purgatory  has  entered  its  protest.  Evi- 
dently, therefore,  we  must  expect  to  find  upon  the 
ascending  terraces  diminishing  degrees  of  sin  and  in- 
creasing degrees  of  participation  in  the  divine  life. 
The  process  is  not  one  in  which  the  soul  is  left 
empty  and  garnished,’’  but  one  wherein  evil  is 
crowded  out  by  expanding  good. 

As  holiness  is  living  in  the  universal  life,  those 
sins  are  most  heinous  which  most  consciously  re- 
pudiate existence  in  the  species  and  assert  a naked, 
defiant,  and  self-destroying  individualism.  Hence, 
farthest  from  the  Earthly  Paradise  is  the  terrace  of 
the  proud,  as  deepest  in  the  Inferno  is  the  frozen 
circle  of  the  traitors,  in  whom  pride  reigns  supreme. 
The  characteristic  of  pride  is  that  it  applies  to  things 
spiritual  the  law  of  the  unspiritual,  and  desires  mo- 
nopoly where  the  very  nature  of  the  object  desired 
demands  division.  The  belief  that  there  may  be, 
the  desire  that  there  should  be,  or  the  resolve  that 
there  shall  be  an  unshared  excellence  constitutes  the 
first  degree  of  pride.  In  its  second  degree  pride  re- 
joices in  another’s  lack ; and  in  its  final  phase  it  repu- 
diates the  spiritual  good  which  will  not  be  monopo- 
lized. 

Envy,  which  is  punished  upon  the  second  terrace. 


52 


A STUD  Y OF  DANTE, 


may  be  crudely  distinguished  from  pride  through  the 
fact  of  a different  relationship  to  its  object.  The 
proud  man  (in  his  own  estimation)  already  excels  his 
neighbor,  but  the  envious  man  perceives  that  his 
neighbor  excels  him.  To  himself  the  latter  seems 
only  seeking  equality ; the  former  is  consciously  in- 
sisting upon  monopoly.  Envy  asks  for  itself  more 
and  for  its  neighbor  less;  pride  demands  for  itself 
all  and  grants  to  its  neighbor  none. 

Anger  differs  from  envy  and  pride  both  in  the 
degree  and  the  permanence  of  its  insistence  upon 
self.  As  its  supreme  type,  Dante  chooses  Haman, 
who,  because  Mordecai  bowed  not  nor  did  him 
reverence,'’  prepared  a gallows  and  sought  to  have 
him  hanged  ; and  he  describes  the  angry  man  as  one 
who  through  injury  appears  so  to  take  shame  that 
he  becomes  gluttonous  of  vengeance.”  Thus  anger 
would  seem  rather  an  inability  to  sustain  an  imagined 
wrong,  than  a deliberate  desire  to  inflict  wrong,  and 
we  may  trace  its  root  to  that  undue  self-esteem 
which,  insisting  upon  a recognition  beyond  its  de- 
serts, conceives  itself  injured  when  such  recognition 
is  withheld. 

The  common  characteristic  of  pride,  envy,  and 
anger  is  distorted  self-love,  but  the  supremacy  of 
self  is  greatest  in  pride  and  least  in  anger.  Advanc- 
ing to  the  terrace  of  Sloth,  we  find  self  subordinated. 


FURGATOIUO, 


53 


but  not  overcome.  The  soul  accepts  as  its  ideal  the 
universal  life,  but,  clogged  by  the  impediment  of 
self,  cannot  at  once  create  its  image.  The  heart  has 
turned  to  its  true  object,  but  its  love  is  still  a feeble 
flame.  It  must  be  fanned  into  a fervent  heat  which 
shall  burn  out  all  lesser  loves  and  thus  accomplish 
the  soul's  emancipation  from  appetite  in  its  three 
forms  of  covetousness,  gluttony,  and  lust.  This  work 
is  achieved  upon  the  higher  terraces,  and  then  the 
soul, ‘‘ purified  through  suffering,"  is  welcomed  by 
the  song  of  angels  to  the  kingdom  prepared  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world. 

So  long  as  the  soul  contradicts  the  spiritual  uni- 
verse it  must  feel  the  recoil  of  the  universe  as  pain. 
Hence,  upon  each  terrace  of  Purgatory  is  imaged 
the  suffering  which  is  the  reaction  of  sin.  The  bod- 
ies of  the  proud  are  bent  double  by  the  burdens  on 
their  backs ; the  eyelids  of  the  envious  are  sewn  up 
with  iron  thread  ; the  angry  are  involved  in  thick 
smoke,  and  upon  the  terrace  of  the  slothful  the 
power  of  the  legs  is  put  in  truce."  Prostrate  and 
immovable  the  avaricious  purge  their  sin ; in  hunger 
and  thirst  is  punished  the  gluttony  which  beyond 
measure  followed  appetite,  and  in  purifying  flame  is 
burned  away  unholy  love. 

The  symbolism  of  the  punishments  is  apparent. 
The  principle  of  spiritual  life  is  to  grow  by  giving 


54 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE, 


and  by  sharing  to  increase.  This  principle  re-enforces 
the  humble  man  but  presses  with  intolerable  weight 
upon  the  proud  soul  which  has  repudiated  it.  Noth- 
ing blinds  the  eyes  like  envy,  and  anger  creates  a 
smoky  moral  atmosphere  in  which  all  duties  are  ob- 
scure. The  inevitable  outcome  of  slothful  disuse  is 
loss  of  power,  while  avarice,  loving  supremely  earthly 
things,  lifts  not  the  eye  toward  heaven,  and,  by  ex- 
tinguishing the  love  of  good,  destroys  the  stimulus 
to  action.  Thus,  in  the  truest  sense,  the  avaricious 
man  is  prostrate  and  immovable.  The  reaction  of 
unbridled  appetite  is  craving,  associated  with  satiety, 
and  through  burning  shame  the  souls  of  carnal  sin- 
ners must  press  forward  toward  the  benediction  of 
the  pure  in  heart. 

The  recoil  of  the  spiritual  universe  is,  however, 
not  the  characteristic  mark  of  the  purgatorial  state. 
This  is  even  more  clearly  defined  in  the  Inferno,’' 
where  the  violation  is  supreme.  Thus,  as  against  the 
slow  and  painful  progress  of  the  proud  in  Purgatory, 
we  have  their  stultification  in  the  Inferno  ” ; the 
purgatorial  smoke  of  anger  becomes  in  the  Inferno” 
boiling  mud  and  a river  of  blood,  while  the  craving 
and  satiety  of  penitent  gluttons  are  in  the  impeni- 
tent intensified  into  the  rending  of  voracious  Cerbe- 
rus and  the  descent  of  the  Eternal  accursed  cold 
and  heavy  rain.”  What  the  Inferno  lacks,  and  Pur- 


FURGATORIO, 


55 


gatory  possesses,  is  the  vision  of  the  Ideal.  It  is 
this  which  incites  the  activity  through  which  alone 
defect  can  be  cancelled,  and  the  effort  to  actualize  it 
is  rewarded  by  its  clearer  revelation. 

Upon  the  rock-walls  which  bound  the  terrace  of 
the  Proud  are  carved  typical  examples  of  humility. 
This  is  the  most  external  representation  of  the  Ideal 
in  Purgatory,  and  follows  Tirst  upon  its  symbolic 
prophecy  in  the  dream  of  the  Eagle.  To  the  envious 
the  ideal  of  mercy  is  proclaimed  by  a passing  voice, 
implying  thus  an  internal  sense  which  makes  possible 
its  immediate  recognition.  Meekness  is  revealed  in 
an  inward  vision,  and  when  we  reach  the  terrace  of 
the  Slothful  we  find  that  the  spiritually  discerned 
ideal  has  become  a conscious  inciting  motive. 
‘‘  Quick,  quick '' — cry  the  eager  spirits — so  that  the 
time  may  not  be  lost  by  little  love,’'  and  they  spur 
themselves  to  fresh  ardor  by  recalling  how  ‘‘  Mary  to 
the  mountain  ran,  and  Caesar,  that  he  might  subdue 
Ilerda,  thrust  at  Marseilles,  and  then  ran  into  Spain.” 
In  the  souls  of  those  who  mourn  their  avarice  the 
ideal  has  become  so  clearly  defined  that  they  them- 
selves discern  the  logical  relation  between  their  sin 
and  its  punishment,  and  begin  to  comprehend  the 
fundamental  principle  of  recoil.  To  the  self-con- 
victed glutton  even  temptation  is  turned  into  warn- 
ing, and  from  amid  the  very  branches  of  the  tree  for 


56 


A STUD  Y OF  jDANTE. 


whose  fair  fruit  he  hungers  comes  the  voice  which 
bids  him  pass  on  farther  without  drawing  near.  The 
souls  upon  the  final  terrace  have  attained  a higher 
sanctification,  for  they  have  learned  that  subordina- 
tion of  the  lesser  to  the  holier  love  which  destroys 
temptation  and  emancipates  the  soul  from  the  dan- 
ger of  a fall.  The  meeting  penitents  do  not  need  to 
avoid  each  other,  but"  they  kiss  one  with  one, 
without  staying,  content  Avith  short  greeting.'' 
Moreover,  both  the  gluttonous  and  incontinent  have 
come  to  love  their  purifying  pain,  and  have  pene- 
trated into  the  divine  depths  of  the  worship  of 
Sorrow."  The  former  declare  that  the  same  wish 
leads  them  to  the  tree  which  led  the  Christ  rejoicing 
to  say  Eli " ; and  of  the  latter  we  are  told  that  they 
vanish  in  the  fire  like  fish  in  water  going  to  the 
bottom."  Thus,  in  each  advancing  stage  of  devel- 
opment, the  ideal  becomes  a more  internal,  inclusive, 
and  inciting  power. 

Increasingly  illuminated  by  the  truth,  the  soul 
realizes  more  profoundly  the  sin  that  contradicts  it. 
Hence,  the  revelation  of  ideal  types  of  character  is 
complemented  by  vivid  presentations  of  the  seven 
deadly  sins.  The  humility  of  the  Virgin  throws  into 
relief  the  pride  of  Lucifer,  and  the  love  of  Orestes 
accentuates  the  envious  hate  of  Cain.  For  the  same 
reason,  with  decreasing  sin  comes  increasing  sensi- 


FURGATORIO. 


57 


tiveness  of  repentance.  O noble  conscience  and 
without  a stain/’  sings  the  poet,  how  sharp  a sting 
is  trivial  thought  to  thee  ! ” By  the  souls  who  are 
being  purged  of  avarice  we  are  told  that  no  more 
bitter  pain  the  mountain  has.”  Nowhere  does  Dante 
manifest  such  shrinking  as  in  view  of  the  cleansing 
flames  of  the  topmost  terrace  ; and  it  would  even 
seem  that  the  crowning  moment  of  his  anguish  is 
that  in  which,  arraigned  and  condemned  by  Beatrice, 
he  falls  swooning  upon  the  bank  of  Lethe.  So  the 
final  judgment  comes  for  each  one  of  us  when,  with  ^ 
awakened  eyes,  we  gaze  upon  Him  whom  we  have 
pierced.  Seeing  what  He  is,  we  see  all  we  are 
not. 

Twice  in  the  course  of  his  progress  from  the  gate 
of  Purgatory  to  the  Earthly  Paradise  does  Dante 
sleep  and  dream.  The  first  dream  comes  to  him 
after  he  has  painfully  circled  around  the  terrace  of 
Sloth,  the  second  after  he  has  issued  from  the  flame, 
and,  wearied  in  his  ascent  toward  the  summit  of  the 
mount,  ''  of  a stair  has  made  his  bed.”  In  the  one 
he  has  a vision  of  a deceiving  Siren,  who,  seeking  to 
allure  him,  is  put  to  flight  by  a ''  Lady  saintly  and 
alert  in  the  other  he  beholds  a beautiful  woman 
walking  in  a meadow,  singing  and  gathering  flowers. 
Her  song  is  a key  to  Dante’s  theory  of  the  method 
of  spiritual  development : 


58 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE. 


“ Know,  whosoever  may  my  name  demand, 

That  I am  Leah,  and  go  moving  round 
My  beauteous  hands  to  make  myself  a garland. 

To  please  me  at  the  mirror  ; here  I deck  me  ; 

But  never  does  my  sister  Rachel  leave 
Her  looking-glass,  and  sitteth  all  day  long. 

To  see  her  beauteous  eyes  as  eager  is  she 
As  I am  to  adorn  me  with  my  hands  : 

Her  seeing  and  me  doing  satisfies.” 

Taken  in  connection  with  the  vision  of  the  Eagle, 
which  anticipates  the  poet's  transition  to  the  gate  of 
Purgatory,  the  inner  meaning  of  these  dreams  be- 
» comes  clear.  As  the  flight  to  the  Empyrean  was  a 
symbolic  presentation  of  the  soul’s  ascent  to  God 
through  contemplation  of  his  nature,  so  the  Siren 
shows  the  fleshly  sins  which  must  be  overcome  be- 
fore the  Divine  Ideal  can  become  incarnate  in  the 
man  ; and  the  Lady  saintly  and  alert  ” typifies  the 
will,  now  purged  of  sloth,  and  sanctified  by  the 
vision  of  the  truth.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  after 
the  ascent  from  the  terrace  of  Sloth  sin  is  no  longer 
described  as  obscuring  vision,  but  only  as  impeding 
progress.  We  hear  no  more  of  ‘‘  the  smoke-stains  of 
the  world,”  though  much  still  of  the  malady  which 
all  the  world  pervades,”  the  need  of  unloosing  the 
knot  of  debt,”  and  the  obligation  to  circle  around 
the  mount  which  straightens  those  whom  the  world 
made  crooked.” 

The  third  dream  is  a synthesis  of  the  other  two. 


PURGATORIO. 


59 


If  vision  reacting  upon  desire  incites  to  effort,  so 
effort  crowned  with  achievement  makes  possible 
clearer  vision.  To  be  good  is  to  see  the  good,  and 
only  in  identification  with  the  divine  is  the  divine 
fully  revealed.  When  development  is  complete 
there  is  no  real  distinction  between  the  active  and 
the  contemplative  life.  Leah  may  still  gather  flowers, 
but  she  does  so  that  she  may  please  herself  at  the 
mirror ; or,  in  prosaic  statement,  activity  is  to  her 
simply  the  condition  of  insight.  Dante's  waking 
experiences  correspond,  moreover,  with  the  pre- 
monitions of  his  sleep,  for  when  he  comes  into  the 
Earthly  Paradise  it  is  by  Matilda  (identified  by 
all  commentators  as  the  type  of  sanctified  activity) 
that  he  is  drawn  through  Lethe  and  led  to  Beat- 
rice. 

In  order  to  understand  the  spiritual  state  figured 
by  Dante  in  the  Earthly  Paradise  we  must  keep 
clearly  in  mind  the  thought  of  Purgatory  as  a purify- 
ing process.  Progress  through  the  sevenfold  realm 
means  the  gradual  elimination  of  selfishness,  and,  as 
correlative  to  this,  increasing  degrees  of  spiritual 
fellowship.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  throughout 
this  second  division  of  the  Divine  Comedy  references 
to  God  are  few  and  indirect.  The  vision  of  God  is 
the  blessedness  of  the  Heavenly  Paradise.  The 
Earthly  Paradise  is  a transition  toward  this  joy,  and 


6o 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE, 


represents  a state  of  mind  in  harmony  with  the 
Church,  or,  differently  expressed,  entrance  into  the 
life  of  God  as  incarnate  in  the  world. 

The  order  of  Dante’s  experiences  in  the  Earthly 
Paradise  is  very  suggestive.  Declared  by  Virgil  king 
over  himself  and  free  either  to  sit  quiet  or  to  walk 
among  the  beauties  which  surround  him,  he  feels 
eager  to  search  in  and  around  the  heavenly  forest,” 
and  moves  forward  until  his  progress  is  barred  by  a 
stream  so  clear  that  by  comparison  ‘‘  earth’s  most 
limpid  waters  seem  obscure.”  Upon  the  opposite 
bank  he  sees  Matilda  gathering  flowers,  and  learns 
from  her  that  this  stream  is  Lethe,  which,  issuing 
from  a fountain  safe  and  certain,  descends  with  virtue 
which  takes  away  all  memory  of  sin.”  Then  sud- 
denly warned  to  look  and  listen,  the  poet  ‘‘  beholds 
a lustre  run  athwart  the  spacious  forest,  and  hears  a 
delicious  melody  in  the  luminous  air.”  This  light 
and  music  herald  the  revelation  of  the  Church, 
imaged  as  a triumphal  chariot  drawn  by  Christ  under 
the  form  of  the  Griffin  ; a mystic  animal  which, 
being  half-lion  and  half-eagle,  symbolizes  that  union 
of  the  divine  and  human  which  neither  confounds 
the  natures  nor  divides  the  person.”  Preceding  the 
chariot  are  seven  apparently  self-moving  candle- 
sticks, representing  the  seven  gifts  of  the  Spirit ; and 
the  books  of  the  Old  Testament  personified  as 


FURGATORIO, 


6i 


twenty-four  elders  clad  in  the  white  garments  and 
crowned  with  the  lilies  of  faith.  Surrounding  the 
chariot  are  the  four  apocalyptic  beasts,  crowned  with 
green,  the  color  of  hope,  and  representing  the  four 
gospels;  four  nymphs  robed  in  purple,  who  personify 
the  moral  virtues  of  prudence,  temperance,  justice, 
and  fortitude ; and  three  nymphs  clad  in  white, 
green,  and  red,  and  denoting  the  theological  virtues 
of  faith,  hope,  and  charity.  In  the  rear  follow 
seven  elders,  robed  in  white  but  crowned  with  the 
roses  of  love,  and  representing  the  remaining  books 
of  the  New  Testament. 

Very  evidently  we  have  here  the  representation  of 
a visible  institution,  and  not  a revelation  of  its  in- 
visible life.  But  suddenly  out  of  the  midst  of  the 
great  procession  arises  a solitary  cry — ‘‘  Come  with 
me,  my  spouse,  from  Lebanon."  Shouted  three  times 
by  ‘‘one  from  heaven  commissioned/'  it  is  echoed 
by  all,  and  then,  “ in  the  bosom  of  a cloud  of  flow- 
ers, covered  with  a white  veil,  wrapped  in  a green 
mantle  and  vested  in  color  of  the  living  flame," 
Beatrice  descends  upon  the  Chariot  of  the  Church. 
Spontaneously  the  mind  reverts  to  the  apocalyptic 
vision  of  the  Holy  City,  the  new  Jerusalem  coming 
down  from  God,  “ prepared  as  a bride  adorned  for 
her  husband,"  and  recognizes  in  this  descending  Be- 
atrice an  image  of  the  indwelling  Spirit  of  that  great 


62 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE, 


heavenly  Church  of  which  all  churches  on  earth  are 
but  types  and  symbols. 

Dante’s  treatment  of  Beatrice  gives  us  the  key 
both  to  his  poem  and  his  poetic  method.  For  obvi- 
ously the  Beatrice  of  the  Divine  Comedy  is  prima- 
rily the  woman  Beatrice  Portinari.  In  the  Vita 
Nuova,”  describing  the  moment  when  he,  a child, 
first  met  her,  a child,  Dante  affirms:  ‘‘At  that  in- 
stant the  spirit  of  life  which  dwells  in  the  most 
secret  chamber  of  the  heart  began  to  tremble  with 
such  violence  that  it  appeared  fearfully  in  the  least 
pulses,  and  tremblingly  said  these  words : ‘ Behold  a 
God  stronger  than  I,  who  coming  shall  rule  me.’  ” 
There  is  an  echo  of  this  description  in  the  passage  of 
the  “ Purgatory  ” which  narrates  the  descent  of  Be- 
atrice. The  spirit  of  the  poet  trembles  with  awe, 
and,  through  the  occult  influence  proceeding  from 
“ the  fair  and  saintly  Lady  of  his  heart,”  feels  “ the 
mighty  influence  of  an  ancient  love.”  It  is  a revival 
of  “ the  power  sublime  that  had  already  pierced  him 
through  in  boyhood,”  and  he  “ quenches  ten  years 
of  thirst  ” in  the  “ light  of  the  eyes  whence  love 
once  drew  his  armory.”  Yet  though  truly  the 
woman,  Beatrice  is  not  the  woman  alone.  “ Sitting 
with  ancient  Rachel,”  she  suggests  the  contempla- 
tive life,  and,  “ gazing  like  an  eagle  at  the  sun,”  she 
indicates  its  perfection.  Still  more  profoundly  ap- 


FURGATORIO, 


63 


prehended  as  One  who  withdrew  from  singing  Hal- 
lelujah to  rescue  the  wanderer  from  the  dark  wood 
— as  one  whose  stern  salutation  caused  Dante  to  fall 
prostrate  in  contrite  shame,  and  as  one  whose  eyes 
reflect  the  Griffin  and  are  themselves  ‘‘  the  splendor 
of  the  living  light  eternal '' — she  shines  forth  the 
image  of  that  grace  which  seeks  and  convicts  the 
sinner,  illuminates  the  penitent,  and,  by  giving  itself 
to  the  soul,  makes  the  soul  like  itself.  The  Beatrice 
of  Dante  is  thus  one  with  the  Eternal  Womanly  '' 
of  Goethe,  and  represents  that  divine  principle 
which  always  energizes  to  draw  up  the  imperfect  into 
the  blessedness  of  its  own  perfection. 

The  vision  of  Beatrice  is  followed  by  Dante's  pas- 
sage through  Lethe  ; or — if  we  may  translate  the 
poet's  figure — being  quickened  by  a higher  revela- 
tion, he  is  pricked  with  a thornier  penitence  and  thus 
made  susceptible  of  a further  purification.  Having 
crossed  the  stream  that  takes  away  the  memory  of 
sin,  he  joins  the  procession  of  the  Church,  and  then, 
in  deeper  communion  with  her  who  is  light  'twixt 
truth  and  intellect,"  his  spirit  grows  prophetic. 
With  penetrating  eyes  he  scans  the  history  of  the 
Church  and  beholds  worldly  power  bringing  forth 
spiritual  pride  with  its  triple  progeny  of  heresy, 
schism,  and  moral  corruption.  Upon  his  quickened 
ear  falls  the  mournful  music  of  the  angelic  chant — 


64 


A STUD  Y OF  DANTE, 


O Lord  ! the  heathen  are  come  into  thine  inherit- 
ance ; thy  holy  temple  have  they  defiled.”  Thus  he 
passes  out  of  the  communion  of  the  visible  into  that 
of  the  invisible  Church,  and,  regenerated  by  the 
waters  of  Eunoe,  becomes  ‘‘  pure  and  disposed  to 
mount  unto  the  stars.” 

Contrasting  with  the  Inferno,”  which  pictures 
the  outcome  of  selfish  individualism  in  the  stultifica- 
tion of  the  individual,  Purgatory  ” traces  the  re- 
demption of  man  out  of  individualism  into  social 
communion.  It  treats  of  the  soul’s  relation  to  God, 
not  directly  but  as  mediated  by  the  Church,  and  its 
lesson  is  that  in  the  organic  relationship  of  the  indi- 
vidual to  the  social  whole  is  grounded  the  possibility 
of  spiritual  development.  Hence  the  supreme  sin  is 
‘‘  Contumacy  of  Holy  Church  ” ; and  upon  the  car 
of  the  Church  descends  Beatrice,  the  immortal  image 
of  divine  grace.  How,  through  the  Church,  the  in- 
dividual is  lifted  into  participation  with  the  divine,  is 
the  theme  of  the  Paradise,”  whose  consummation 
is  reached  when  the  soul,  inspired  by  abundant 
grace,”  presumes  to  fix  its  own  sight  upon  the 
Light  eternal.” 

The  only  obstacle  to  spiritual  growth  lies  in  our- 
selves. Goodness  divine,  which  spurns  from  itself 
all  envy,”  is  forever  shining  in  ideal  beauty  and  draw- 
ing the  soul  with  cords  of  love.  If  we  do  not  see  the 


PURGATORIO, 


65 


heavenly  vision,  it  is  because  we  are  blinded  by  sin ; 
if  we  do  not  press  forward  toward  it,  it  is  because  we 
are  clogged  by  sin.  Well,  therefore,  shall  it  be  with 
us  if  we  take  to  ourselves  the  stern  rebuke  and  ex- 
hortation of  the  grave  warden  of  Purgatory : 


“ What  is  this,  ye  laggard  spirits  ? 
What  negligence,  what  standing  still  is  this  ? 
Run  to  the  mountain,  to  strip  off  the  slough 
That  lets  not  God  be  manifest  to  you  ! 


PARADISO. 


Of  the  three  divisions  of  the  Divine  Comedy,  the 
“ Paradiso  ''  is  the  most  elusive  to  sympathy  and  the 
most  baffling  to  comprehension.  Its  difflculties 
arise  from  the  fact  that  it  pictures,  in  unfamiliar 
images,  a transcendent  range  of  spiritual  experience. 
We  know  what  it  is  to  sink  from  less  to  greater  sin, 
and  easily  translate  the  symbolism  of  the  deepening 
and  narrowing  circles  of  the  “ Inferno/'  We  know 
something  of  the  struggle  through  which  evil  is 
overcome,  and  can  sympathize  with  the  painful 
climbing  of  the  tiresome  mount.  But  our  minds  re- 
construct with  difflculty  that  vanished  theory  of  the 
physical  universe  from  which  are  drawn  the  images 
of  the  “ Paradiso,"  and  its  blessedness  finds  few  illumi- 
nating analogies  in  our  experience.  Hence,  having 
stated  his  sublime  theme  in  the  first  canto,  the  poet, 
in  the  second,  warns  all  those  who  have  been  lightly 
following  him  to  turn  back,  adding  the  grave  words : 
The  sea  I sail  has  never  yet  been  passed." 

With  the  warning,  however,  comes  encourage- 
66 


FARAniSO. 


67 


merit.  We  are  reminded  of  Glaucus,  who,  eating 
of  the  food  of  the  gods,  became  himself  divine. 

Thirst  for  the  realm  deiform  ''  has  power  to  bear 
us  on,  and  fervent  desire  is  at  once  the  pledge  and 
prophecy  of  attainment.  Dante’s  thought  is  the 
same  so  wonderfully  elaborated  by  Goethe  in 
“ Faust,”  that  aspiration  measures  man  and  de- 
cides his  destiny.  The  highest  gifts  we  crave  are 
ours  by  right  of  the  power  to  crave  them. 

The  key-note  of  all  Christian  thought  is  recogni- 
tion of  the  double  truth  of  man’s  present  abasement 
and  his  exalted  destiny.  This  consciousness  formu- 
lates in  theology  the  related  doctrines  of  total  de- 
pravity and  the  incarnation.  It  inspires  the  scrip- 
tural paradoxes  that  when  weak  we  are  strong; 
when  dead  to  self,  most  alive  to  God.  It  is  the 
vital  breath  of  prayer  which  asks  for  all  things  be- 
cause it  knows  it  lacks  all  things.  Man  is  poor, 
naked,  helpless,  blind,  yet  he  confidently  expects  to 
be  redeemed  into  the  likeness  of  God  because  he 
knows  that  the  Giver  of  all  good  cannot  withhold 
the  greatest  of  all  gifts — Himself.  As  in  his  giving 
there  can  be  no  stint,  the  largeness  of  his  gift  is 
measured  only  by  the  capacity  of  the  recipient.  In- 
creasing capacity  is  expressed  in  enlarging  desire. 
Hence,  God  requires  of  man  no  fitness  save  a felt 
sense  of  need,  or,  as  our  poet  puts  it : 


68 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE, 


“ Regnum  coelorum  suffereth  violence 
F rom  fervent  love  and  from  that  living  hope 
That  overcometh  the  divine  volition  ; 

Not  in  the  guise  that  man  o’ercometh  man, 

But  conquers  it  because  it  will  be  conquered  ; 

And  conquered,  conquers  by  benignity.’* 

The  insight  which  gives  unity  to  the  Divine 
Comedy  is,  that  the  generic  is  the  Divine.  The  na- 
ture common  to  all  men  is  the  Deity  immanent  in 
each  man.  Organized  society  is  the  incarnation  of 
this  universal  Spirit.  Conscience  is  the  pledge  of  its 
indwelling.  Sin  is  violation  of  the  tie  which  binds 
the  individual  to  the  social  whole  and  its  recoil,  as 
imaged  in  the  Inferno,''  is  the  exclusion  of  the  sin- 
ner from  that  organic  life  which  he  has  attacked. 
The  climax  of  the  purgatorial  process  is  reached 
when  the  penitent,  finally  surrendering  self,  enters 
into  the  communion  of  the  Church.  The  burden  of 
the  ‘‘  Paradiso  " is  the  relationship  of  the  Church  to 
its  head.  It  celebrates  the  eternal  quickening  of  the 
immanent  by  the  self-communication  of  the  trans- 
cendent God,  and  images  the  joy  of  redeemed 
humanity  in  its  increasing  ability  to  receive  and 
hold  in  itself  the  fulness  of  the  divine  life. 

The  transition  from  earth  to  heaven  is  marked  by 
the  reversal  of  natural  laws.  Contrary  to  earthly 
precedent  the  poet  finds  himself  rising  through  the 
realm  of  fire,  and  marvels  in  what  way  he  transcends 


PARADISO. 


69 


these  bodies  light/'  Beatrice  explains  to  him  that 
in  the  heavenly  world  the  downward  gravitation  of 
earth  is  overcome  by  the  upward  gravitation  of 
spiritual  desire.  In  like  manner  the  material  law 
that  one  thing  excludes  another  is  reversed  in 
heaven,  for  Dante  is  received  into  the  moon  ‘‘  as 
water  doth  receive  a ray  of  light,  remaining  still  un- 
broken," and  learns  to  his  astonishment  that  one 
dimension  may  tolerate  another."  This  hint  pre- 
pares us  for  the  farther  revelation  that  the  spiritual 
world  is  not  in  space  nor  turns  on  poles,"  and  that 
there  ‘‘  near  nor  far  nor  add  nor  take  away."  And 
as  it  is  beyond  space  so  it  is  outside  of  time,  for  time 
is  exclusive  through  the  succession  of  its  moments. 
Therefore  we  read  that  neither  after  nor  before 
proceeded  the  going  forth  of  God  upon  these  waters." 
The  confines  of  heaven  are  ‘‘love  and  light,"  and 
even  these  mingle  and  conjoin  in  “ light  intellectual 
replete  with  love."  For  such  a realm  there  can  be 
no  other  where  “ than  in  the  mind  Divine,"  and  en- 
trance into  it  is  its  entrance  into  us.  Thus  heaven 
is  not  a place  but  a spiritual  state.  Paradise  is  the 
triumph  of  grace  which  doth  “ imparadise  the  mind." 

As  a whole  the  universe  is  good  and  good  only. 
Evil  resides  not  in  the  nature  of  things  but  in  their 
partial  interpretation.  Placing  himself  through  self- 
ishness in  antagonism  to  a creation  rooted  and 


70 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE. 


grounded  in  love,  the  sinner  concludes  that  the  uni- 
verse is  in  antagonism  to  him.  To  the  apprehension 
of  Caliban  the  motive  of  creation  is  spite.  Touched 
by  Mephistopheles  the  roses  of  love  become  consum- 
ing flames.  And  as  sin  is  grounded  in  selfishness, 
which  is  refusal  to  seek  the  good  of  each  through  the 
good  of  all,  so  intellectual  error  is  grounded  in  the 
attempt  to  explain  an  infinite  universe  by  its  finite 
parts  and  to  find  in  time  the  solution  of  an  eternal 
process. 

It  is  a suggestive  law  of  spiritual  progress  that  we 
begin  by  defining  good  as  the  negative  of  evil,  and 
end  by  defining  evil  as  the  negative  of  good.  Thus 
the  prohibitions  of  the  Decalogue  vanish  in  Christ’s 
positive  command  of  love.  So  thought  advances 
from  the  Hindoo  Brahm  to  the  Christian  Trinity,  or 
from  the  apprehension  of  the  infinite  as  mere  nega- 
tion of  the  finite  to  the  definition  of  the  finite  as  a 
vanishing  phase  in  the  process  of  the  infinite.  In  a 
word,  we  begin  by  making  our  nothingness  the 
measure  of  the  universe,  and  learn  very  gradually  to 
make  the  universe  the  measure  of  our  nothingness. 
Increasing  insight  is  progressive  reversal  of  opinion, 
as  increasing  holiness  is  progressive  crucifixion  of 
self.  The  reversal  is  complete  when  we  see  that 
where  God  immediately  doth  govern  the  natural 
law  in  naught  is  relevant.”  Thought  is  not  condi- 


FARADISO. 


71 


tioned  in  time  and  space,  because  time  and  space 
have  vanished  in  thought.  It  cannot  be  circum- 
scribed, because  it  is  the  ‘‘  all  circumscribing.''  The 
stainless  spark  " of  perfect  light  only  seems  enclosed 
by  what  itself  encloses. 

The  ten  heavens  of  the  Paradiso  " image  cumula- 
tive degrees  of  insight  into  the  nature  of  the  universe 
as  a spiritual  whole,  and  increasing  freedom  of  the 
individual  in  its  reflection  of  the  generic  will.  Ad- 
vance from  a lower  to  a higher  state  is  symbolized 
in  greater  light  and  speed  and  in  more  complete 
unity  and  interpenetration.  The  questions  discussed 
become  more  subtle  as  we  recede  from  earth,  and  show 
profounder  grasp  of  that  haunting  problem  of  free 
will  to  which  the  poet's  thought  seems  ever  to  return. 

In  the  heaven  of  the  Moon  Dante  places  the  spirits 
of  those  whose  allegiance  to  the  Divine  will  is  formal 
and  uncomprehending.  This  type  of  character  is 
illustrated  by  nuns  torn  from  the  cloister  and  forced 
to  marry.  It  is  not  assumed  that  they  were  recon- 
ciled to  the  violation  of  their  vows,  but  only  that 
through  fear  of  death  they  acquiesced  in  it.  Of  one 
we  are  expressly  told  that  she  was  never  divested  of 
the  heart's  veil ; yet  she  is  blamed  because  she  had 
not  the  perfect  will  which  kept  Lawrence  fast  upon 
the  gridiron  and  strengthened  Mucius  to  hold  his 
hand  in  the  devouring  flame. 


72 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE, 


Like  the  moon  in  which  they  are  placed,  such 
spirits  have  no  light  in  themselves.  The  truth 
shines  upon  them  but  not  in  and  through  them. 
They  recognize  the  divine  as  a binding  law,  but  do 
not  feel  it  as  a quickening  impulse.  Therefore  they 
change  with  changing  circumstance,  as  the  moon 
rounds  into  a circle  or  contracts  into  a crescent 
through  receiving  more  or  less  fully  the  light  of  the 
sun. 

Men  do  not  freely  die  to  carry  out  the  will  of  an- 
other, even  though  the  other  may  be  God  himself. 
Men  die  for  that  without  which  life  would  be  no  life 
to  them.  It  is  only  when  we  have  re-created  in  our- 
selves the  Spirit  by  whom  we  were  created,  that  we 
are  able  to  subdue  the  limitations  of  temperament, 
defy  the  coercion  of  circumstance,  and  triumph  over 
the  suggestions  of  fear.  God,  as  an  external  ruler, 
will  always  be  disobeyed ; God,  as  an  internal  in- 
spirer,  makes  his  will  supremely  our  own. 

Dante’s  description  of  the  spirits  in  the  moon 
throws  into  relief  the  limitation  of  their  conscious- 
ness. In  your  miraculous  aspect,”  he  says  to 
Piccarda,  there  shines  I know  not  what  of  the 
divine  ” ; or,  as  we  may  paraphrase  his  words:  ‘‘  In 
you  the  divine  is  not  recognizable.”  All  the  moon 
spirits  appear  as  mirrored  semblances,”  not  real,  but 
faintly  reflecting  reality ; they  are  blessed  in  the 


PARADISO. 


73 


“slowest  sphere  ''  and  they  vanish  “ as  through  deep 
water  something  heavy/'  In  prosaic  statement, 
allegiance  to  an  alien  will  can  neither  overcome  the 
gravitation  of  earthly  passions  nor  quicken  a zealous 
love. 

The  spiritual  state  symbolized  by  any  given 
heaven  is  suggested  not  only  in  the  description  of 
the  spirits  to  whom  it  has  been  assigned  as  a dwell- 
ing-place, but  also  in  the  questions  discussed  by 
Dante  in  his  approach  to  and  transit  through  it. 
He  cannot  enter  the  heaven  of  the  Moon  until 
Beatrice  has  revealed  to  him  that  the  universe  as  a 
whole  resembles  God.  Her  brief  but  conclusive 
argument  is,  that  order  among  things  implies  rela- 
tionship between  things,  and  universal  relationship 
presupposes  a unity  in  which  the  things  related  are 
included.  Hence  each  thing  exists  not  for  itself 
alone  but  for  all  things,  and  in  contributing  to  the 
beauty  and  blessedness  of  the  whole,  accomplishes 
its  individual  destiny. 

To  each  man  is  reserved  a work  which  he  alone 
can  do.  He  must  find  his  happiness  in  doing  it,  and 
in  the  thought  that  lacking  even  his  feeble  effort  the 
universe  would  be  incomplete.  This  insight  enables 
Piccarda  to  affirm  that  “ as  we  are  station  above 
station  in  this  realm,  to  all  the  realm 't  is  pleasing  " ; 
it  inspires  the  “ golden  sentence  " of  Bonaventura, 


74 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE, 


that  the  best  perfection  of  a religious  man  is  to  do 
common  things  in  a perfect  manner'' ; and  its  echo 
may  be  heard  in  those  touching  lines  of  devout 
George  Herbert,  which  have  been  the  life-long  com- 
fort of  many  a household  saint : 

‘ ‘ A servant  with  this  clause 
Makes  drudgery  divine  ; 

Who  sweeps  a room  as  for  Thy  laws 
Makes  that  and  th’  action  fine.” 

The  candle  may  shed  but  a feeble  light,  yet  with- 
out it  its  own  corner  were  dark.  Intent  on  shining 
there,  it  never  remembers  to  mourn  that  it  is  not 
the  sun. 

It  is  evident,  however,  that  we  may  grasp  the  uni- 
verse as  an  including  totality,  and  yet  apprehend  very 
faintly  its  nature  and  end.  We  may  know  that  organ- 
ized society  reveals  the  ideal  which  is  binding  on  the 
individual,  and  yet  fail  to  define  to  ourselves  in  what 
this  ideal  consists,  and  to  identify  it  with  our  own 
inward  aspiration.  In  such  a state  of  mind  we  shall 
inevitably  ask  with  Dante  how  man  can  be  respon- 
sible for  broken  vows  when  circumstances  have  made 
it  impossible  to  keep  them  ; we  shall  doubt  if  each 
soul  has  not  a definite  limit  beyond  which  it  cannot 
pass, — some  star  whence  it  came  and  to  which  it 
must  return,  and  weighing  in  an  external  balance 
good  and  evil,  fondly  imagine  that  with  particular 


PARADISO, 


75 


deeds  of  virtue  we  may  atone  for  a faltering  and  dis- 
loyal will.  A formal  view  of  the  universe  converts 
spiritual  degree  into  rigid  caste,  and  conceives  man 
not  as  self-limiting  but  as  limited  from  without.  The 
solutions  of  Beatrice  affirm  freedom  in  degree. 
Throughout  the  heavenly  realm  the  spirits  of  the 
redeemed  have  sweet  life  in  different  degrees,'' 
through  feeling  more  or  less  the  eternal  breath." 
The  spirits  in  the  moon  are  in  one  heaven  with  the 
seraphim  most  absorbed  in  God,"  and  they  appear 
where  they  do  merely  to  give  sign  of  the  celestial 
which  is  least  exalted."  Good  cannot  be  quantita- 
tively measured,  and  circumstances  cannot  force 
will.  We  are  what  we  are  through  inward  defect, 
not  outward  coercion.  Environment  is  never  ob- 
structive to  the  individual,  but  the  individual  may 
obstruct  the  influence  of  environment. 

From  the  heaven  of  the  Moon  to  the  heaven  of 
Mercury  Dante  passes  like  an  arrow  which  strikes 
upon  a mark  ere  the  bowstring  quiet  hath  become." 
It  is  interesting  to  note  that  this  is  the  last  planetary 
transit  which  the  poet  is  able  to  measure  by  time. 
Hereafter  he  knows  that  he  is  translated  to  higher 
salvation  ‘‘  only  by  the  enkindled  smiling  of  the 
stars  " and  the  growing  beauty  of  Beatrice.  At  each 
stage  of  his  ascent  creation  seems  more  glorious  and 
grace  more  divine.  In  his  praises  of  the  lady  fair. 


76 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE, 


who  makes  him  strong  for  heaven/'  the  poet  exhausts 
the  resources  of  human  speech,  amply  fulfilling  his 
early  hope  to  say  of  her  what  never  was  said  of 
any  woman."  Gazing  upon  her  he  is  strengthened 
to  rise.  Type  of  illuminating  grace,  which  shines 
more  brightly  as  the  soul  is  changed  into  its  image, 
she  is  seen  to  pass  from  good  to  better  so  suddenly 
that  not  by  time  her  action  is  expressed."  In  the 
heaven  of  Mercury  she  lights  the  poet  with  a smile 
‘‘  such  as  would  make  one  happy  in  the  fire."  In 
ardent  Mars  her  eyes  so  burn  that  gazing  into  them 
the  poet  feels  he  has  touched  the  bottom  of  his 
grace,"  and  ascending  to  Jupiter  she  conquers  him 
with  a radiance  so  wonderful  that  he  needs  the  re- 
minder that  not  in  her  eyes  alone  is  Paradise."  In 
crystal  Saturn  her  beauty  has  become  so  resplendent 
that  she  dares  not  shine  upon  him  lest  he  be  con- 
sumed to  ashes,  and  when  in  the  eighth  heaven  his 
sight  has  become  strong  enough  “ to  tolerate  her 
holy  smile,"  he  affirms  that  to  sing  it  all  the  tongues 
of  all  the  poets  would  not  avail.  In  these  wonder- 
ful passages  are  inextricably  interwoven  the  man's 
love  for  the  woman  and  the  poet's  rapture  in  that 
divine  beneficence  which,  forever  creating  in  man  a 
sacred  hunger,  forever  satisfies  him  with  celestial 
food." 

More  than  any  other  planet.  Mercury  is  veiled  by 


PARADISO, 


77 


the  rays  of  the  sun.  It  is  thus  symbolic  of  that 
type  of  character  which  is  inspired  to  great  achieve- 
ment by  the  love  of  fame.  Fame  may  be  defined  as 
the  reflection  of  the  good  in  the  consciousness  of 
men,  and  he  who  makes  it  his  supreme  motive  values 
not  light  but  the  mirror  which  gives  back  light.  To 
him  the  ideal  is  still  external, — a type  in  the  minds 
of  others  to  which  he  conforms.  Hence  he  has  no 
true  individuality,  but  loses  himself  in  alien  thought 
and  will,  as  the  light  of  Mercury  is  lost  in  the  light 
of  the  sun.  He  lives  not  for  what  he  sees  to  be 
highest  and  best,  but  for  the  best  as  it  appears  to 
others. 

While  the  spirits  in  the  moon  know  only  that 
there  are  degrees  of  blessedness,  those  in  Mercury 
see  justice  as  the  spiritual  principle  which  determines 
degree.  Our  joy,’'  says  Justinian,  ‘‘lies  in  corn- 
mensuration  of  our  wages  with  our  desert.”  We 
rejoice  in  justice,  though  through  it  we  are  excluded 
from  higher  joy.  Let  God  be  true  though  every 
man  is  a liar.  Let  us  trust  him  though  he  slay  us. 
Far  better  bear  defect  in  ourselves  than  arbitrariness 
in  the  order  of  the  universe. 

The  application  of  the  principle  of  justice  to  all 
particular  cases  which  may  arise  under  it  is  the  work 
of  law  ; hence,  the  typical  spirit  in  the  heaven  of 
Mercury  is  Justinian,  to  whom  the  world  is  indebted 


78 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE, 


for  the  famous  code  by  which  all  free  nations  are 
governed.  The  execution  of  law  demands  the  State, 
which  thus  becomes  the  instrument  for  carrying  out 
the  divine  will,  and  for  this  reason  Dante  celebrates 
in  the  discourse  of  the  typical  lawgiver  the  glory  of 
the  typical  empire.  In  the  history  of  Rome,  as 
rapidly  reviewed  by  the  poet,  is  shown  the  signifi- 
cance of  organized  society,  which,  by  returning  upon 
each  man  his  own  deed,  fulfils  towards  him  the 
righteous  judgment  of  God. 

To  know  God  as  justice,  is  to  have  in  so  far  a posi- 
tive thought  of  him.  To  rejoice  in  justice,  is  to 
begin  to  be  like  him.  Therefore  the  spirits  in  Mer- 
cury are  said  to  be  ‘‘  kindled  with  the  light  which 
through  the  whole  of  heaven  is  spread.’’  There  is 
light  in  them  as  well  as  around  them,  and  they  not 
only  reflect  it,  but  as  effulgence  clear  it  issues 
from  them.” 

To  capacitate  Dante  for  ascent  from  Mercury  to 
Venus,  Beatrice  shows  him  the  limitation  of  the 
principle  of  justice,  and  prepares  him  to  enter  into 
the  profounder  insight  of  the  third  order  of  spirits. 
A just  God  reigneth,  but  clouds  and  darkness  are 
round  about  him,  and  a fire  goeth  before  him  and 
burneth  up  his  enemies.  At  sight  of  his  lightnings 
the  earth  trembles,  and  in  his  presence  the  hills  melt 
like  wax.  How  shall  the  imperfect  stand  in  the 


FARADISO.  ' 


79 


presence  of  the  perfect  ? How  shall  the  sinner  ever 
become  emancipate  from  sin?  Justice  explains  de- 
gree, but  not  transition  from  a lower  to  a higher 
degree.  It  can  reward,  but  not  redeem  ; it  can 
punish,  but  not  develop.  Its  stern  demand  is  that 
the  sinner  shall  fill  up  where  transgression  empties 
with  righteous  pains  for  criminal  delights.'’  When 
suffering  shall  have  balanced  sin,  which  can  be  never, 
then,  and  not  till  then,  will  justice  be  satisfied. 

The  verdict  of  justice  is  final  in  fixing  the  recoil  of 
the  absolute  type  upon  each  grade  of  character  an- 
tagonistic to  it.  Even  in  material  things,”  says 
Thomas  Aquinas,  pressure  causes  reaction.  Each 
violated  order  vindicates  itself  through  recoil  upon 
that  which  violates  it,  and  this  recoil  is  punishment. 
Sin  violates  a threefold  order  (which  yet  is  one),  the 
order  of  reason  and  the  orders  of  human  and  divine 
law.  Hence  its  recoil  in  the  pains  of  conscience,  in 
the  penalties  of  human  society,  and  in  the  punish- 
ment of  God.”  Written  in  sombre  color  upon  the 
gates  of  the  city  dolent  shall  always  be  read  the 
words:  Justice  incited  my  sublime  creator,” — and 

I eternal  last.  To  the  consciousness  of  the  sinner 
heaven  itself  were  hell.  The  mind  which  is  unlike 
the  Good  supreme  cannot  be  blanched  with  its  light. 

Insight  into  justice,  as  that  which  vindicates  man’s 
freedom  through  the  return  of  his  deed,  shatters  for- 


8o 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE, 


ever  all  theories  of  salvation  not  grounded  in  charac- 
ter. God  himself  can  save  man  only  by  producing 
in  man  a type  of  character  conformed  to  his  own. 
Faith  in  a redemption  wrought  for  us  is  efficacious 
only  as  the  instrument  by  which  redemption  is 
wrought  in  us.  Hell  and  purgatory  and  heaven — 
what  are  they  but  different  attitudes  of  the  in- 
dividual towards  a blessed  universe,  which,  in  the 
already  quoted  words  of  the  poet,  resembles  God  ? 

But  justice  cannot  itself  be  just,  unless  it  capaci- 
tates man  for  the  conformity  it  requires.  The  impli- 
cation of  justice  therefore  is  grace.  Only  by  giving 
himself  to  man  can  God  enable  man  to  be  like  him- 
self. In  the  words  of  our  poet, — 

“ All  the  other  modes  were  insufficient 
For  justice,  were  it  not  the  Son  of  God 
Himself  had  humbled  to  become  incarnate.” 

Creation  is  not  a kingdom,  but  a school ; its  aim  is 
not  to  govern,  but  to  educate ; its  end  is  not  obedi- 
ence but  freedom,  and  its  consummation  not  alle- 
giance to  but  identification  with  the  divine. 

Oh,  happy  fault,’'  exclaims  the  Church,  on  Holy 
Saturday,  referring  to  Adam’s  sin, — oh,  happy  fault, 
which  has  brought  us  so  great  redemption.”  Ani- 
mated by  the  same  spirit,  Milton’s  Adam  declares : 

“ Full  of  doubt  I stand 

Whether  I should  repent  me  now  of  sin 


FARADISO. 


8i 


By  me  done  and  occasioned,  or  rejoice 

Much  more,  that  much  more  good  thereof  shall  spring. 

To  God  more  glory,  more  good-will  to  men 
From  God,  and  over  wrath  grace  shall  abound.” 

The  lost  silver  inspires  the  ardent  search  ; the 
wandering  sheep  calls  forth  the  shepherd's  tenderest 
care ; the  prodigal  son  learns  most  of  the  father’s 
love,  and  there  is  more  joy  in  heaven  over  the  sinner 
that  repenteth  than  over  ninety  and  nine  just 
persons  who  need  no  repentence.  The  problem  of 
evil  is  solved  to  the  penitent  who,  in  his  own  experi- 
ence, has  learned  to  know  God  as  the  conqueror  of 
evil.  He  remembers  his  slavery  only  to  praise  his 
deliverer  ; he  thinks  of  his  sin  only  as  the  occasion 
of  God’s  higher  revelation  to  his  soul.  Victory  in 
himself  is  the  pledge  of  victory  everywhere,  and  his 
own  history,  seen  in  perspective,  interprets  all  history 
as  the  subjugation  of  sin  by  love.  In  this  sense, 
Folco,  speaking  for  the  spirits  in  Venus,  declares 
that 

“ Here  is  no  repenting,  but  we  smile 

Not  at  the  fault  which  comes  not  back  to  mind. 

But  at  the  power  which  ordered  and  foresaw.” 

In  the  description  of  the  planet  Venus,  stress  is 
placed  upon  its  epicyclic  movement.  According  to 
the  system  of  astronomy  which  lies  at  the  basis  of 
Dante’s  symbolism,  the  inferior  planets  revolve 
primarily  round  the  sun,  and  to  the  circle  which 


82 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE, 


they  describe  in  this  movement  is  given  the  name  of 
epicycle.  By  the  sun  they  are  carried  around  the 
zodiac ; hence  they  perform  the  true  celestial  revolu- 
tion, not  of  themselves,  but  as  constrained  thereto  by 
their  desire  to  follow  the  sun. 

What  the  sun  is  to  its  dependent  planets,  such  is 
human  love  to  hearts  swayed  by  its  influences.  It 
causes  the  life  of  the  lover  to  circle  around  the 
object  loved,  and  in  so  far  destroys  the  selfishness 
which  makes  each  man  his  own  centre.  Moreover, 
in  seeking  the  good  of  another,  man  enters  into  the 
divine  activity,  or,  as  imaged  by  Dante,  revolving 
about  the  sun,  the  planet  must  needs  sweep  around 
the  zodiac.  In  Venus,  therefore,  are  to  be  seen  the 
spirits  who  on  earth  found  their  supreme  joy  in 
human  affection.  Loving,  they  learned  the  nature 
of  love,  and  penetrated  beyond  justice  into  the 
secret  of  grace. 

The  defect  of  this  grade  of  character  is  that  by 
imposing  limits  upon  love,  it  degrades  love  into  a 
form  of  selfishness.  It  will  sacrifice  self  for  another^ 
but  not  for  all  others.  Its  type  is  the  lover  finding 
his  heaven  in  his  lady’s  eyes,  not  the  saint  filled 
with  the  enthusiasm  of  humanity  and  burning  with 
desire  to  quicken  in  the  most  degraded  sinner  the 
flickering  spark  of  divine  life.  In  so  far  as  it  is  in- 
spired by  love,  it  has  true  individuality ; therefore 


PARADISO, 


83 


Venus  cannot  be  veiled,  like  Mercury,  in  the  rays  of 
the  sun.  But  as  its  love  is  limited,  its  individuality 
is  really  dependent  upon  the  object  loved.  With- 
draw its  idol,  and  you  paralyze  its  activity.  Its  true 
selfhood  is  in  its  other  self,  and,  like  Venus,  which 
WOOS  the  sun,  now  following,  now  in  front,''  it  is 
forever  moved  by  an  external  influence,  and  not  im- 
pelled by  an  indwelling  energy. 

In  the  heaven  of  Venus  ends  the  “ shadowy  cone 
cast  by  the  world."  The  spiritual  realm  through 
which  we  have  passed  is  characterized  by  increasing 
insight  into  the  nature  of  the  divine.  The  spirits  in 
the  moon  perceive  that  there  is  an  eternal  order. 
This  insight  delivers  the  intellect  from  the  fluctua- 
tions of  opinion,  and  the  will  from  the  restlessness  of 
caprice.  There  is  no  coercion  in  the  subjunctive, 
nor  can  peace  ever  be  the  fruit  of  perhaps.  But  the 
certainty  of  a divine  order  is  the  entrance  into  para- 
dise. In  Mercury  this  order  is  defined  as  justice, 
and  in  Venus  as  redeeming  grace.  In  the  higher 
heavens  we  shall  find  not  deeper  definitions  of  the 
divine,  but  a progressive  identification  of  the  divine 
and  human.  There  can  be  nothing  higher  nor 
deeper  than  love,  but  we  have  yet  to  see  that  love 
must  make  all  things  like  itself. 

Ascending  from  the  heaven  of  Venus  to  that  of 
the  sun,  a wondrous  change  comes  over  the  poet. 


A STUD  Y OF  DANTE. 


84 


Henceforth  the  reader  must  feed  himself,  for  Dante's 
interest  is  now  diverted  wholly  to  “ the  theme  of 
which  he  has  been  made  the  scribe."  His  love  is  so 
absorbed  in  God  that  even  Beatrice  in  oblivion  is 
eclipsed."  His  joy  is  in  contemplating  the  mas- 
ter's art  " ; his  ear  is  attent  only  to  the  heavenly 
choir  who  sing 

“ Not  Bacchus  nor  Apollo, 

But  in  the  divine  nature  persons  three, 

And  in  one  person  the  divine  and  human." 

Here  for  the  first  time  he  comprehends  that  crea- 
tion is  a rising  process  whose  consummation  can 
only  be  in  God.  Man  interprets  nature ; he  is  her 
crown  and  king,  the  reason  of  her  being,  the  reward 
of  her  struggle,  and  the  solution  of  her  contradic- 
tions. But  how  solve  the  contradictions  in  man 
himself  ? A worm  of  the  dust,  yet  with  thought 
that  reaches  into  eternity,  and  longings  which  can 
be  quenched  only  in  God.  As  nature  is  redeemed 
in  him,  shall  he  not  be  redeemed  in  God,  and  is  not 
the  incarnation  the  goal  towards  which  all  history 
strives  ? The  truth  reflected  in  the  moon  is  thus 
revealed  in  the  sun,  and  the  two  dimensions  which 
may  tolerate  " each  other  interpreted  as  the  union 
in  one  person  of  the  human  and  divine." 

The  spirits  in  the  sun  are  theologians  who  have 
lived  to  elucidate  the  wonderful  doctrines  of  the 


PARADISO. 


35 


trinity  and  incarnation,  or  saints  who  have  borne 
witness  in  their  lives  to  the  indwelling  of  their  God. 
Here  Thomas  Aquinas  is  a vivid  and  triumphant 
light,  and  Bonaventura  is  made  fair  by  love.  Here 
flames  the  burning  breath  of  Beda,”  who  was  great 
in  contemplation ; and  here  is  the  ‘‘  lustre  of  that 
taper which  in  the  flesh  looked  most  into  the 
loving  ministry  of  angels.  All  glow  with  inward 
light  and  burn  with  inward  ardor,  for  to  them  the 
eternal  order  of  the  universe  has  been  transfigured 
into  an  eternal  act,  and  spiritual  degree  has  vanished 
in  spiritual  transition.  Before  them  shines  the  hope 
of  infinite  progress,  and  they  know  that 

“ Will  increase  whate’er  bestows  on  us, 

Of  light  gratuitous,  the  good  supreme — 

Light  which  enables  us  to  look  on  Him. 

Therefore  the  vision  must  perforce  increase — 

Increase  the  ardor  which  from  that  is  kindled — 

Increase  the  radiance  which  from  this  proceeds.” 

This  glad  confession  of  the  spirits  in  the  sun 
interprets  much  of  the  symbolism  of  the  Divine 
Comedy.  Through  it  we  understand  the  mystic 
dance  of  the  theologic  virtues  led  now  by  the  white, 
now  by  the  red, — now  by  Faith  as  she  gains  a clearer 
vision,  now  by  Love  as  she  glows  with  the  ardor  the 
vision  kindles.  It  clothes  with  meaning  the  sugges- 
tion that  the  two  wheels  of  the  chariot  of  the 
Church  are  Francis,  who  is  all  seraphic  in  ardor,” 


86 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE, 


and  Dominic,  who  is  a splendor  of  light  cherubi- 
cal”;  and  teaches  us  why  the  merit  of  Francis 
should  be  extolled  by  Thomas  Aquinas,  a Domini- 
can, and  the  glory  of  Dominic  celebrated  by  the 
Franciscan  Bonaventura.  The  three  concentric  cir- 
cles formed  by  the  sun  spirits,  and  of  which  the 
second  seems  born  of  the  first,  while  the  third  van- 
quishes Dante  with  the  ‘‘  incandescent  sparkling  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,''  stand  revealed  in  its  light  as  sym- 
bols of  the  higher  hope  and  more  perfect  love, 
quickened  by  profounder  insight  into  the  mystery  of 
God.  Finally,  it  helps  us  to  learn  from  the  ladies 
who  stop  their  dance,  in  silence  listening  till  they 
have  gathered  the  new  melody,"  that  the  alternations 
of  paradise  are  between  new  revelations  of  the  divine 
and  new  creations  of  the  divine  within  ourselves. 
The  doubt  which  ‘‘  springs  up  in  fashion  of  a shoot 
at  the  foot  of  truth " is  nature's  impulsion  to  a 
greater  height,  and  sight  is  vanquished  in  increasing 
light  only  that  the  eye  may  be  made  more  trans- 
parent to  it. 

The  relationship  between  insight  into  the  divine, 
aspiration  towards  the  divine,  and  self-identification 
with  the  divine,  is  ever  present  to  Dante's  thought. 
The  three  acts  are  shown,  not  as  separate  and  suc- 
cessive, but  as  phases  of  an  inclusive  energy,  and  are 
identified  with  the  theologic  virtues  of  faith,  hope. 


PARADISO. 


87 


and  charity.  Charity,  or  love,  is  the  realization 
within  one's  self  of  the  ideal  perceived  by  faith,  and 
thus  implies  faith  as  its  logical  antecedent,  or  rather 
as  the  initial  phase  of  its  own  activity.  In  this 
sense  “ blessedness  " is  truly  said  to  be  rooted  in  the 
faculty  that  sees,  and  not  in  that  which  loves  and 
follows  after.  No  ideal,  no  effort ; no  effort,  no 
character.  Self-identification  with  a perceived  ideal 
expands  the  soul  to  the  measure  of  a fuller  gift,  and 
therefore,  until  man  has  become  wholly  one  with 
God,  each  heaven  attained  will  but  spur  the  hope  of 
higher  attainment. 

As  the  spirits  in  the  sun  are  the  first  to  recognize 
the  identity  of  the  ideal  human  and  the  divine,  so 
those  in  Mars  are  the  first  who  consciously  take  on 
the  form  of  the  universal  life.  God  is  love,  love  is 
self-giving;  self-giving  is  renunciation  of  self.  Its 
supreme  symbol  is  the  cross,  as  its  supreme  historic 
type  is  the  sacrifice  on  Calvary.  Therefore,  the  fifth 
star  is  ''  ruddy  with  love,"  while  its  blessed  spirits 
glow  with  a red  lustre,"  and  constellated  in  its 
depths  describe  the  venerable  sign  that  quadrants 
joining  in  a circle  make."  The  appearance  of  the 
cross  is  ‘‘  of  a precious  jewel  set  with  gems  " ; the 
individual  spirits  move  freely  upon  it  from  top  to 
bottom,  and  from  the  right  horn  to  the  left,  but  from 
the  ribbon  which  binds  them  to  it  they  are  never 


88 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE, 


dissevered.  Their  running  is  upon  the  radiant 
fillet,  and  their  seeming  is  of  fire  behind  alabaster.’' 
Through  the  renunciation  of  self  man  is  bound  for- 
ever to  the  living  whole  of  humanity.  Within  this 
unity  he  moves,  and  through  him,  as  through  a 
translucent  medium,  shines  the  light  of  the  indwell- 
ing spirit.  Not  only  is  the  divine  revealed  to  him, 
but  he  has  become  its  revelation  to  others. 

Mars  is  the  heaven  of  brave  thinkers,  who  gladly 
bear  the  world’s  scorn  to  declare  to  the  world  re- 
deeming truth, — of  the  heroes  who  lead  the  forlorn 
hope  of  good  against  the  serried  ranks  of  evil ; of  the 
martyrs  whose  joy  is  in  the  death  which  proclaims 
eternal  life.  Here  Dante’s  ancestor,  the  great  cru- 
sader, promises  him,  as  reward  of  patriotic  virtue,  the 
martyrdom  of  banishment  and  dependence,  and  the 
absolute  loneliness  of  truth  in  a world  of  lies.  Here, 
too,  we  learn,  as  never  before,  the  struggle  of  the 
poet’s  soul.  He  had  craved  power  and  influence 
among  men,  and  had  needed  the  fearful  vision  of 
evil  counsellors  swathed  in  flames  to  teach  him  so  to 
curb  his  genius  that  it  might  not  run  where  virtue 
did  not  guide.”  To  the  lust  of  power  he  added  the 
vainglory  of  genius,  and,  because  he  craved  for  him- 
self an  unshared  eminence  of  fame,  was  constrained 
to  ‘‘go  all  bowed  down”  around  the  first  cornice  of 
the  purgatorial  mount.  Finally,  craven  fear  had 


PARADISO. 


89 


blanched  his  cheek  at  the  mere  thought  that  his 
mission  was  to  penetrate  the  hidden  mysteries  of 
good  and  evil,  and  show  them  forth  to  men,  and, 
shrinking  from  the  gate  of  hell,  he  had  sought  to 
evade  his  destined  work.  Now,  taught  by  grace 
that,  which  if  he  tell  again  will  prove  a savor  of 
strong  herbs  to  many,*'  he  must  conquer  the  coward- 
ice which  might  make  him  a timid  friend  to  truth, 
and,  though  it  cut  him  off  from  all  the  friends  to 
whom  his  torn  heart  clings,  proclaim  from  the  house- 
top what  he  has  learned  in  the  closet.  The  voice  of 
the  old  crusader  bids  him  lay  aside  all  falsehood 
and  manifest  his  vision  utterly,”  while  from  the 
spirits  upgathered  on  the  cross  there  comes  to  him 
the  stirring  cry,  ‘‘Arise  and  conquer!”  The  last 
battle  is  fought,  the  last  victory  won,  and  crucifying 
selfish  fear  as  he  had  crucified  ambition  and  vain- 
glory, the  poet  enters  into  the  communion  of  the 
fifth  heaven. 

To  the  cross  of  Mars  succeeds  the  eagle  of  Jupiter, 
for  the  outcome  of  self-surrender  is  self-realization  in 
the  organic  whole.  To  the  ruddy  hue  of  Mars  suc- 
ceeds the  silver  light  of  Jupiter ; to  the  ardor  of  love 
concentrated  in  sacrifice,  the  radiance  of  love  as  dif- 
fused in  just  and  beneficent  rule. 

Dante's  description  of  the  eagle  is  full  of  significant 
hints  of  the  truth  symbolized  by  it.  In  this  beautiful 


90 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE. 


image,  the  interwoven  souls  are  made  jubilant  in 
sweet  fruition ''  ; the  meaning  of  which  would  seem 
to  be  that  each  man  finds  in  total  humanity  the 
realization  of  his  own  highest  self.  Of  the  perpetual 
flowers  here  blossoming  the  poet  perceives  as  one 
the  odors  manifold  '' ; and  when  the  eagle  speaks, 
it 

“ Utters  with  its  beak,  both  I and 
When  in  conception  it  is  we  and  our'^ 

The  spirits  in  this  realm,  themselves  once  merciful 
rulers,  find  their  never-failing  joy  in  the  mercy  of 
God.  Their  song  is  of  the  Good  that  draws  them  to 
itself ; their  vision  of  grace  that  “ from  so  deep  a 
fountain  wells  that  no  eye  has  ever  reached  its  pri- 
mal wave.”  Questioned  by  Dante  how  the  justice 
of  God  may  be  reconciled  with  the  condemnation  of 
righteous  heathen  who  never  heard  of  Christ,  the 
eagle  boldly  avows  the  doctrine  that  wherever  right- 
eousness is  found  its  source  is  God,  and  its  end,  delight 
in  Him,  and  declares  that  one  of  its  own  brightest 
lights  is  the  Trojan  Ripheus,  to  whom  ‘‘the  maid- 
ens three  were  for  baptism,  more  than  a thousand 
years  before  baptizing.”  The  eagle  of  Jupiter  be- 
lieves in  salvation  by  faith,  but  its  faith  is  that  spirit- 
ual one  through  which  the  Ethiop  shall  condemn  the 
merely  technical  Christian,  and  souls  who  never  heard 
of  Christ  shall  at  the  judgment  be  nearer  to  him  than 
many  who  are  loudly  calling  on  his  name. 


PARADISO. 


9‘i 


It  will  be  remembered  that  the  spirits  in  the  moon 
came  to  peace  through  the  knowledge  that  each 
thing  exists  not  for  itself  alone  but  for  all  things. 
To  the  saints  stationed  in  Jupiter  is  revealed  the 
complementary  truth  that  all  things  exist  for  each 
thing.  The  whole  to  which  the  individual  surrend- 
ers himself  returns  him  to  himself  enriched  with  its 
completer  life.  Man  is  not  merely  an  instrument 
used  to  carry  out  a work.  He  is  himself  the  perfect 
work  which  all  creation  is  striving  to  accomplish. 
We  have  an  image  of  the  reaction  of  the  whole 
upon  the  individual  in  human  institutions.  Through 
the  family  he  is  protected  in  feeble  infancy  and 
guided  in  ignorant  childhood.  Through  the  school 
he  is  prepared  to  enter  into  the  experience  of  the 
race.  Through  the  organization  of  labor  he  receives 
the  ripe  results  of  united  endeavor.  Through  the 
State  justice  is  dealt  to  him  and  as  an  ideal  de- 
veloped in  him.  Through  the  Church  the  feeble 
spark  of  his  spiritual  aspiration  is  fanned  into  liv- 
ing flame.  How  greatly  each  man  is  shaped  by  man- 
kind is  seen  in  the  fact  that  we  define  ourselves  first 
as  Christians  ; second,  as  Europeans  or  Americans ; 
third,  as  citizens  of  a given  state  ; fourth,  as  belong- 
ing to  a particular  community ; fifth,  as  members  of 
a special  family ; and  finally  as  individually  distin- 
guished from  its  other  members.  Insight  into  the 


92 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE, 


rich  return  which  mankind  makes  for  each  man’s 
paltry  gift,  transforms  the  peace  of  acquiescence  into 
the  rapture  of  self-creative  activity.  It  enables  the 
least  of  men  to  share  the  triumphs  of  the  greatest, 
while  holding  up  to  the  greatest  the  ideal  of  service 
to  the  least.  The  true  king  is  the  servant  of  all ; the 
humblest  subject  may  see  his  servant  in  his  king. 
The  divine  Saviour  washes  the  feet  of  his  disciples, 
and  in  the  alien,  the  pauper,  and  the  criminal  com- 
mands them  to  look  upon  Him.  As  the  achieve- 
ment of  each  redounds  to  the  advantage  of  all,  we 
look  upon  seers,  heroes,  and  saints  not  envying  them 
for  what  we  lack  and  they  have,  but  grateful  that 
through  them  our  lack  may  be  supplied.  Without 
the  seer’s  vison  where  were  our  revelation?  With- 
out the  hero’s  struggle  where  were  our  freedom  ? 
Without  the  saint’s  devotion  where  were  our  sancti- 
fication ? 

In  the  conception  of  each  man  as  a centre  to 
which  all  influence  returns,  is  implied  the  perfecti- 
bility of  the  individual.  As  every  dewdrop  may 
reflect  the  sun,  so  every  man  may  reflect  the  divine 
ideal.  It  is  not  enough  that  humanity  as  a whole 
should  resemble  God,  but  each  man  must  as  a per- 
fect mirror  give  back  his  perfect  image.  Man  must 
not  only  find  himself  in  the  world,  but  the  world  in 
himself.  The  cross  of  Mars  and  the  eagle  of  Jupiter 


FARADISO. 


93 


are  but  symbols  of  the  renunciation  through  which 
the  individual  gives  himself  to  the  whole,  and  of  the 
perfect  organization  through  which  the  whole  returns 
its  influence  to  him.  Ascending  with  the  poet  into 
the  golden  glory  of  Saturn,  we  behold  each  spirit 
shining  as  ‘‘  a sphere  complete  in  itself,’*  while  all 
the  spheres  with  mutual  rays  each  other  more 
embellish.” 

According  to  the  celestial  hierarchy  of  Dionysius, 
from  which  Dante  borrows  much  of  the  symbolism 
of  the  ‘‘  Paradiso,”  the  heaven  of  Saturn  is  ruled  by 
that  order  of  angels  known  as  the  Thrones.  Dante 
describes  them  as  ^‘thrones  of  the  countenance 
divine,  and  mirrors  from  which  shine  our  God  judi- 
cant.”  Dionysius  himself  affirms  that  these  angels 
are  called  thrones  because,  as  the  chair  receives  the 
sitter,  so  they  receive  God  in  themselves,  and  in  a 
certain  sense  carry  him  to  others.  The  heaven  of 
Saturn  would  seem  therefore  to  typify  that  consum- 
mate moment  of  heavenly  experience  when  the 
individual  soul  expands  to  the  measure  of  the  divine 
fulness,  and  enriched  by  the  total  experience  of 
humanity,  incarnates  total  humanity  within  itself. 
Each  man  is  now  himself  plus  all  other  men.  He 
here  becomes  the  teacher,  at  whose  feet  he  sat ; 
the  poet,  at  whose  burning  words  he  marvelled  ; the 
State,  which  kindled  his  patriotic  fervor  ; and  the 


94 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE. 


Church,  through  whose  sacraments  he  learned  to 
feed  on  God.  The  perfect  Son  of  God,  for  whose 
manifestation  the  whole  creation  waits,  groaning  and 
travailing  in  pain, — his  education  is  complete,  and 
his  Maker  shall  dwell  with  him  forevermore. 

Small  wonder,  therefore,  that,  ascending  to  Saturn, 
Dante  looks  in  vain  for  the  smile  of  Beatrice.  Small 
wonder  that  in  this  wheel  the  dulcet  symphony  of 
paradise  is  silent,  and  the  single  cry  which  smites 
upon  the  poet’s  ear  stuns  him  with  holy  fear.  His 
sight  must  be  disciplined  before  he  may  behold 
grace  in  her  consummate  beauty ; his  ear  must  be 
strengthened  to  bear  the  hosannas  of  the  happy 
spirits  who  chant  her  perfect  gift.  Only  in  the 
remotest  sphere  shall  he  see  Benedict,  with  coun- 
tenance unveiled,  and  know  the  denizens  of  Paradise 
even  as  he  is  known  by  them. 

In  Saturn  show  themselves  the  contemplative 
spirits  who,  freed  from  the  illusions  of  sense,  saw 
even  while  on  earth  the  things  invisible.  Up  and 
down  the  golden  ladder,  which  is  uplifted  beyond  all 
power  of  mortal  vision,  they  move,  and  as  the  poet 
gazes  they  vanish  from  his  sight  like  a whirlwind 
that  is  upward  rapt.”  This  is  the  ladder  where, 
without  re-ascending,  none  descends.  Bringing  to 
others  the  truth  it  has  learned,  the  devout  spirit 
rises  to  higher  truth.  It  is  Emerson’s  stairway  of 


FARADISO. 


95 


surprise/' — each  step  a new  insight  upon  which 
thought  mounts  toward  its  goal. 

As  in  the  heaven  of  Saturn  is  completed  the  long 
education  of  the  individual,  it  is  meet  that  from 
hence  he  should  look  back  over  the  path  he  has 
travelled.  Retracing  his  history  he  will  more  truly 
know  himself,  and  will  be  prepared  to  gaze  with 
vision  unclouded  and  acute  upon  the  last  salvation. 
At  the  bidding  of  his  celestial  guide  the  poet  looks 
down  upon  the  vast  world  he  has  put  beneath  his 
feet.  He  sees  his  native  earth  and  smiles  at  its 
ignoble  semblance.  The  moon  shines  to  him  now 
without  a shadow;  Venus  and  Mercury  appear  re- 
volving around  the  sun,  and  Jupiter,  Mars,  and 
Saturn  are  seen  not  only  as  they  are  in  themselves, 
but  in  their  relationship  to  each  other.  May  we  not 
interpret  this  vision  as  the  poet's  recall  of  the  stages 
of  his  own  spiritual  growth?  He  remembers  with  a 
smile  the  puerile  passions  and  interests  of  earth  ; 
the  peace  born  of  their  subjection  to  a principle 
recognized  as  universal ; the  delight  of  perceived 
correspondence  between  the  sense  of  justice  in  the 
soul  and  the  reign  of  justice  in  the  world ; and  the 
vanishing  of  repentance  in  rejoicing  over  the  great 
goodness  of  God.  He  renews  the  rapture  of  that 
crucial  moment  when  in  prophetic  vision  he  saw  the 
divine  incarnate  in  the  human  ; the  self-renouncing 


96 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE. 


ardor  which  this  insight  quickened,  and  the  blessed- 
ness flowing  from  recognition  of  the  outpouring  of 
the  spirit,  through  mankind,  upon  individual  men. 
Then  gratefully  beholding  in  himself  one  ripened 
fruit  of  the  world’s  endeavor,  he  almost  anticipates 
the  jubilant  cry  of  Beatrice  as,  entering  the  heaven 
of  the  fixed  stars,  she  bids  him 

“ Behold  the  hosts 

Of  Christ’s  triumphal  march,  and  all  the  fruit 
Harvested  by  the  rolling  of  the  spheres.” 

In  the  heaven  of  the  Fixed  Stars  the  central  figure 
is  Christ.  He  gives  light  to  all  the  blessed  spirits, 
as  in  the  time  of  Dante,  the  sun  was  supposed  to 
give  light  to  all  the  stars.  Second  only  to  him  in 
glory  is  the  Virgin,  described  as  the  ‘‘  Rose  divine 
in  which  the  Word  divine  became  incarnate,”  and 
around  her  ‘‘  circles  with  joy  Gabriel,  the  angel  of 
the  Annunciation.”  To  the  angel  who  promised  the 
divine  infant,  follow  the  apostles  who  proclaimed 
abroad  the  coming  of  the  divine  man  ; and,  last  of 
all,  the  first  man  Adam,  who  was  of  the  earth  earthy, 
appears  redeemed  by  the  second  man,  who  is  the 
lord  from  heaven,  thus  interpreting  the  history  of 
the  world  as  the  transition  from  one  to  the 
other. 

To  become  one  with  God  is  to  become  the 
sharer  of  his  work,  and  hence  to  the  heaven  of 


FARADISO, 


97 


consummation  succeeds  the  heaven  of  influence.  If, 
heretofore,  we  have  traced  insight  through  its  ascend- 
ing degrees,  we  now  behold  influence  descending 
from  God  through  cherubim  and  seraphim  to  the 
least  and  lowest  who  aspire  toward  a higher  life.  In 
this  realm  of  crystal  clearness  and  of  matchless 
speed,  the  nine  concentric  circles  of  the  angelic 
hierarchy  are  attracted  by  God,  and  their  joy  is  to 
attract  others  to  him.  From  above  they  take  to  act 
beneath,  and  upward  gazing  become  downward  pre- 
vailing. We  remember  Beatrice,  who,  to  save  the 
sinning  Dante,  endured  in  hell  to  leave  the  im- 
print of  her  feet,''  and  thank  our  poet  for  this 
deepest  of  all  lessons,  that  those  who  have  been 
changed  into  the  image  of  God  must  work  forever 
to  create  that  image  in  others. 

The  careful  reader  of  the  ‘‘  Paradiso  " will  have 
noticed  that  the  advent  of  Dante  in  each  heaven 
deepens  the  joy  of  the  spirits  dwelling  therein. 
Speaking  to  the  poet,  the  spirit  of  Justinian  be- 
comes, ‘‘by  far,  more  lucent  than  it  was  before," 
and  delighting  in  his  sympathy,  Folco  shines  re- 
splendent, “ like  a fine  ruby  smitten  by  the  sun."  Is 
it  possible,  we  ask,  that  there  can  be  increase  in  the 
infinite  happiness  of  heaven  ? Is  it  possible,  an- 
swers our  poet,  that  truth  shared  shall  not  be  truth 
quickened,  or  that  love  shall  cease  to  grow  by  giv- 


98 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE, 


ing  ? Through  all  eternity  new  individuals  will  be 
rising  into  the  communion  of  the  saints  and  swelling 
their  already  perfect  joy.  As  the  moon  ideal,  each 
for  all^  was  inverted  in  the  Jupiter  ideal,  all  for  each^ 
so  both  are  transfigured  in  the  insight  of  the  Primum 
Mobile,  which  demands  that  each  individual  shall 
see  God  reflected  in  every  other,  and  shall  reveal  to 
every  other  the  divine  as  reflected  in  himself. 

Seeing  ever  more  clearly  the  divine  in  the  human, 
we  have  ascended  from  the  slowest  to  the  swiftest 
sphere.  In  the  final  heaven, — place  of  the  “ supreme 
deity  who  alone  doth  perfectly  see  himself,'’ — there 
waits  for  us  the  higher  revelation  of  the  human  in 
the  divine.  Long  since,  in  the  tender  planet  Venus, 
we  learned  what  must  be  the  attitude  of  perfect  love 
to  struggling  imperfection,  but  still  unsolved  re- 
mains the  deeper  question  how  imperfection  came 
to  be.  This  is  the  secret  of  the  empyrean,  for 
whose  showing  forth  the  poet  declares  that  his  lan- 
guage shorter  falls  than  an  infant's  “ who  still  his 
tongue  doth  moisten  at  the  breast." 

That  our  thought  may  learn  to  grapple  with  this 
deepest  mystery,  it  is  declared  to  us  first  in  symbolic 
form.  Before  our  eyes  a river  of  light  flows  betwixt 
two  banks  depicted  with  an  everlasting  spring.  From 
the  river  issue  living  sparks  which  on  all  sides  sink 
down  into  the  flowers.  The  river,  the  sparks,  and 


PARADISO, 


99 


the  flowers  are,  as  Beatrice  tells  Dante,  but  images 
or  foreshadowing  prefaces  of  truth.  He  must  bathe 
his  eyes  in  the  living  water  that  he  may  truly  see, 
and  drink  of  it  that  his  thirst  for  knowledge  may  be 
slaked.  Through  such  final  baptism  he  enters  into 
the  glory  of  the  empyrean  ; in  such  heavenly  eu- 
charist  partakes  completely  of  his  God.  Purified  by 
these  sacramental  acts,  he  beholds  the  river  trans- 
formed out  of  its  length  into  round,  while  the  indi- 
vidual flowers  upon  its  bank  blend  into  the  White 
Rose  of  Paradise.  Into  this  flower  of  love,  symbol 
of  the  invisible  church,  descend  the  angels,  bringing 
sweet  influence  from  God  ; and  then,  ascending, 
they  waft  back  to  him  the  fragrant  thanksgiving  of 
the  saintly  host. 

In  the  thirteenth  canto  of  the  Paradiso,'’  the  gen- 
eration of  the  Son  from  the  Father  is  imaged  as  the 
flowing  of  effulgent  light  from  its  fountain.  Pre- 
sumably, therefore,  the  similar  image  used  in  de- 
scribing the  empyrean  symbolizes  the  same  truth, 
and  in  the  length  of  the  shining  river  we  are  to  see 
the  outpouring  of  the  Father, — in  the  roundness  the 
divine  perfection  of  the  Son.  Still  expanding,  the 
wonderful  light  of  the  Logos  becomes  so  wide  that 
its  circumference  would  be  too  large  a girdle  for 
the  sun,'*  and  mirrors  itself  in  the  countless  ranks  of 
beatified  saints  who  have  been  made  one  in  the 


lOO 


A STUDY  OF  DANTE, 


spirit.  Herein  is  clearly  suggested  the  truth  that 
the  invisible  church  (already  defined  as  the  ripened 
fruit  of  creation)  is  in  the  image  of  the  Son,  as  the 
Son  is  in  the  image  of  the  Father. 

The  doctrine  that  all  things  were  made  by  the 
Word,  suggested  in  the  symbols  just  described,  is 
still  more  explicitly  revealed  in  the  final  vision  of 
the  Paradiso.”  Gazing  at  last,  direct  upon  his  God, 
the  poet  beholds  '‘within  the  deep  and  luminous 
subsistence  of  the  High  Light  three  circles  of  three- 
fold color  and  of  one  dimension.''  “ By  the  second 
circle  is  the  first  reflected,"  and  this  second  circle, 
when  contemplated  by  the  poet's  eye,  “ within  itself 
of  its  own  very  color  seems  painted  with  the  effigy 
of  man.'’  The  incarnation  of  the  divine  in  man 
finds  its  only  possible  ground  in  the  eternal  being  of 
man  in  God.  The  historic  atonement  manifests  in 
time  an  act  complete  from  all  eternity,  and  forever 
the  human  and  divine  have  been  made  one,  not  by 
the  conversion  of  tha  Godhead  into  flesh,  but  by  the 
taking  of  the  manhood  into  God. 

To  rethink  for  ourselves  the  poet's  thought,  we 
must  recur  to  the  insight  of  the  spirits  in  Venus, 
that  in  love  is  to  be  found  the  keynote  to  the  har- 
mony of  the  universe.  Dante  reaffirms  this  doctrine 
in  the  closing  words  of  the  sacred  poem,  and  leaves 
us  as  his  final  legacy,  the  insight  that  “ it  is  love 


PARADISO. 


lOI 


which  moves  the  sun  and  the  other  stars/'  In  love, 
therefore  we  must  seek  the  solution  of  the  deep 
mysteries  of  the  trinity  and  incarnation. 

Love  implies  an  object  distinct  from  and  yet  iden- 
tical in  nature  with  the  being  who  loves.  Any  ob- 
ject less  than  himself  leaves  his  love  a mere  unreal- 
ized potentiality.  Man  could  never  bestow  all  his 
love  on  a stone  or  animal ; hence  had  he  only  stones 
and  animals  to  love  he  could  not  be  completely  him- 
self. So  infinite  love  demands  an  infinite  object,  and 
thus  implies  that  dualism  in  the  Divine  Being  formu- 
lated in  theology  as  the  eternal  Father  and  the  eter- 
nally begotten  Son.  Love,  whose  very  essence  is 
self-communication,  must  have  always  completely 
communicated  itself.  To  suppose  otherwise  is  to 
introduce  potentiality  and  therefore  imperfection  into 
our  thought  of  the  Father.  On  the  other  hand,  in 
self-communication  or  generation  there  is  implied 
logical  movement  from  antecedent  phases  of  less  to 
greater  perfection.  These  logical  phases  of  develop- 
ment eternally  beheld  by  the  Father  in  the  Son  and 
eternally  recognized  by  the  Son  as  he  contemplates 
his  relationship  to  the  Father,  are  actualized  in  the 
process  of  creation  whose  consummation  is  the  in- 
carnation of  the  divine  in  the  human,  and  the 
redemption  of  man  from  the  multiplicity  of  selfish 
individuals  into  the  unity  of  the  Spirit. 


102 


A STUB  Y OF  BANFF. 


The  ascending  insights  of  paradise  are  God  in  the 
universe, — God  in  the  individual, — each  individual  in 
every  other, — all  individuals  in  God.  This  final 
vision  is  the  truth  beyond  which  nothing  true  ex- 
pands itself,''  and  in  which  ‘‘  all  intellect  finds  rest." 
In  God  we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being.  In 
the  mystery  of  His  triune  nature  is  the  pledge  of 
our  immortal  union  with  Him,  and  out  of  the  daring 
humility  born  of  perfect  faith  we  may  echo  the 
words  of  the  old  mystic  : 

‘ ‘ I know  without  me  God  cannot  a moment  live  ; 

If  I to  death  should  go,  He,  too,  would  death  receive.” 


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